Montana only state to ban vaccine rules for employees
HELENA, Mont. — While many large companies across the U.S. have announced that COVID-19 vaccines will be required for their employees to return to work in-person, there is one state where such requirements are banned: Montana.
Under a new law passed by the state’s Republicancontrolled Legislature earlier this year, requiring vaccines as a condition for employment is deemed “discrimination” and a violation of the state’s human rights laws.
Montana is the only state in the U.S. with a law such as this for private employers, said Hemi Tewarson, executive director of the National Academy for State Health Policy.
The law has raised concern among employers across the state as Montana struggles with a rise in COVID-19 cases that is once again straining the state’s health care system.
Pushback swelled last week when physicians called on the Legislature to reverse the law.
“This is against everything we’ve ever known or believed about public health,” said Dr. Pamela Cutler, president of the Montana Medical Association. “I believe it’s a travesty now and it needs to be fixed so that we can make our offices safe for patients and our co-workers.”
GOP lawmakers who supported the bill in the state Legislature said it was needed in response to employers “coercing” employees to get vaccinations under threat of termination. Some of the loudest supporters of the bill were employees of Benefis Health System in Great Falls who were told earlier this year that COVID-19 vaccines would be necessary to keep their jobs.
Benefis was forced to backtrack on that plan when the law was signed by Gov. Greg Gianforte in May.
Gianforte, a former business executive who founded and ran a technology company, gave the bill the green light after changing it to allow health care facilities to require unvaccinated workers and those who refuse to disclose their vaccination status to wear masks.
He stood behind the law last week amid heightened scrutiny.
“While the governor continues to encourage Montanans to receive safe and effective vaccines, doing so is voluntary and no individual should face discrimination based on vaccination status,” Brooke Stroyke, a spokesperson for Gianforte, said in an email.
While the list of national corporations requiring vaccines of their employees who want to return to work in-person continues to grow, which includes Google, Facebook, Walmart and United Airlines, businesses in Montana don’t have that option.
“Most (businesses) feel like their hands are tied right now,” said Mike Rooney, operations director for Downtown Helena Incorporated, an organization that represents businesses in downtown Helena. “Some would definitely be very supportive of a vaccination requirement or a mask requirement.”