GOP state officials decry workplace vaccine order
Officials in 14 states plan to file lawsuits as soon as Friday
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Republican state officials reacted with swift rebukes Thursday to President Joe Biden’s newly detailed mandate for private employers to require workers to be vaccinated against COVID19, threatening a wave of lawsuits and other actions to thwart a requirement they see as a stark example of government overreach.
At least two conservative groups moved quickly to file lawsuits against the workplace safety mandate, and a growing roster of GOP governors and attorneys general said more lawsuits were on the way as soon as Friday. Some Republican-led states had already passed laws or executive orders intended to protect employers that may not want to comply.
“This rule is garbage,” South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, a Republican, said Thursday through a spokesperson. “It’s unconstitutional and we will fight it.”
States have been preparing for the requirement since Biden previewed it in September. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements released Thursday call for companies with 100 or more employees to be vaccinated by Jan. 4 or be tested weekly. Failure to comply could result in penalties of nearly $14,000 per violation. Federal officials also left open the possibility of expanding the mandate to smaller employers.
Republican governors or attorneys general in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and South Dakota said Thursday they would file lawsuits against the mandate as soon as Friday. The Daily Wire, a conservative media company, filed a challenge in federal court Thursday. So did companies in Michigan and Ohio represented by a conservative advocacy law firm.
Robert Alt, a lawyer representing the Midwest companies suing — manufacturer Phillips Manufacturing & Tower Company and packaging firm Sixarp — said both companies are already facing staffing shortages amid the pandemic.
“It adds insult to injury and forces them potentially to fire trained employees,” Alt said.
States say they are focusing on the role of the federal government in the lawsuits they’re preparing.
“While I agree that the vaccine is the tool that will best protect against COVID19, this federal government approach is unprecedented and will bring about harmful, unintended consequences in the supply chain and the workforce,” Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb said.
At a news conference, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized what he called an “executive fiat” for the private sector. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds characterized the mandate as an imposition on personal choice, saying people should be able to make their own health care decisions. She recently signed a bill guaranteeing that people who are fired for refusing a vaccine can qualify for unemployment benefits.
At least 19 Republican-led states previously sued the Biden administration over a separate mandate requiring vaccines for employees who work for federal contractors. Three more filed similar lawsuits Thursday.
Biden, in a statement Thursday, dismissed the argument from many GOP governors and lawmakers that a mandate for employers will hurt businesses’ ability to keep workers on the job. “There have been no ‘mass firings’ and worker shortages because of vaccination requirements,” he said.
All 26 Republican state attorneys general have previously said they would fight the requirements, and most of them signed a letter to Biden saying as much. Key to their objection is whether OSHA has the legal authority to require vaccines or virus testing.
In the letter to Biden, the top state government lawyers argued that the agency can regulate only health risks that are specific to jobs — not ones that are in the world generally. Seema Nanda, the top legal official for the U.S. Department of Labor, which includes OSHA, says established legal precedent allows rules that keep workplaces safe and that those rules preempt state laws.
That hasn’t stopped state lawmakers and governors for taking a variety of actions aimed at undercutting federal mandates.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last month issued an executive order prohibiting private companies or any other entity from requiring vaccines, while Arkansas has adopted a law creating a vaccine-mandate exemption for workers who can prove they have COVID-19 antibodies.