Airport workers face vaccination deadline

LITTLE ROCK — Employees at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/ Adams Field must be fully vaccinated by Dec. 8 or face getting fired, the airport’s top executive said in a memorandum issued to all employees Tuesday.

As of Tuesday, a total of 104 out of the airport’s 147 employees, or 71%, were vaccinated, according to Bryan Malinowski, the airport’s executive director.

The requirement only became apparent last week when airport executives received federal guidance that the airport’s employees fall under President Joe Biden’s executive orders mandating all federal workers and federal contractors must be vaccinated, he told members of the Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission at its monthly meeting Tuesday.

The airport qualifies as a federal contractor because it receives more than $250,000 in money from the federal government through lease contracts it has for space with the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Transportation Security Agency, he said.

The only exception to the mandate is that Clinton National “is legally required to provide an accommodation for a disability or sincerely held religious belief or practice,” according to the memo.

Unvaccinated employees have little time to get vaccinated. Under the guidance, an employee is considered “fully vaccinated” two weeks after receiving the second dose of a two-dose series or two weeks after receiving a single-dose vaccine. That would mean they would have to get their second shot by Dec. 8.

There is no vaccine booster requirement, Malinowski said.

At the commission meeting, Carolyn Witherspoon, the counsel for the commission, said in response to a question from commissioner Bill Walker that it was unclear whether the mandate applied to other personnel who work at the airport, such as concessions or engineers.

“These just came out,” she said. “A conversation is going on nationally about who is going to be covered and who is not going to be covered.”

In a memo to the commission, Witherspoon said the General Services Administration is taking a proactive approach to compliance.

“The airport must attempt to ensure that any non-complying employee understands the possibility of termination,” she wrote. “The airport will start with a notice to all employees. This will be followed with meetings to educate non-vaccinated employees. The airport will ensure that no accommodation is required or needed.”

To not comply, the airport will “lose additional opportunities for funding,” Witherspoon said, noting no other possible penalties have been announced.