September 9, 2021
The President just announced strict new federal vaccine mandates for employees – this could impact millions of American workers — and not just federal ones. We’re talking about health care workers and educators too.
Tonight President Biden said all federal employees and those working under the executive branch jurisdiction – including white house staff – must get the Covid19 vaccine. There will no longer be an option to regularly test instead. This vaccine mandate will also be extended to employees of contractors who do business with the federal government. They have 75 days to get vaccinated or possibly be fired.
There will be limited exceptions to those who claim medical or religious exemptions. As I’ve discussed multiple times – your employer has to offer these exemptions but are under no obligation to grant them if those exemptions cause undue hardship or cost.
The president also announced that the labor department will draft a new emergency rule that will require all businesses with 100 or more employees to ensure their workers are vaccinated or tested once a week. Companies could face thousands of dollars in fines per employee if they don’t comply.
This labor rule will also require employers with more than one-hundred employees to give their employees paid time off to get vaccinated. And if they don’t, the government could fine the company up to 14-thousand dollars per violation.
The fact is – many large American companies have already mandated Covid19 vaccines as a term of employment, and that’s totally legal and has been upheld in the Supreme Court for decades. Whether the labor emergency rule the president announced tonight, will stand up to legal challenges, we’ll have to see.
In the education sector – the president will require 300,000 educators in the federal Head Start programs to be vaccinated.
As for health care – the President says the 17 million health care workers at facilities who receive funds from Medicare and Medicaid must be fully vaccinated which now expands to hospitals, home care facilities and dialysis centers across the country.
The labor department is working on that emergency temporary standard rule – and should be releasing it very soon.
Read the Executive Order for federal employees here.
Read the Executive Order for federal contractors here.
PLUS
Failing to wear a mask on a plane, train or any mode of transportation regulated by the TSA – is going to cost you more… like, a lot more.
The TSA just announced starting September 10th — mask violations will be increased from $500 to $1000 for the first offense and will increase from $1000 to $3000 for the second offense.
This includes commercial aircraft, passenger railroads, intercity bus services and other forms of public transportation.
Keep in mind, these are civil penalties from the TSA not to be confused with the FAA civil penalties that can also be applied to mask violations on planes. We’ve seen those fines in the tens of thousands of dollars. Plus there’s a possible federal criminal penalty for interfering with a flight crew that you can also be subject to.
You’ll start seeing new signage at the airports about these increased fines soon.
The TSA mask mandate has been extended to January 18, 2022 and may be extended further.
Read the TSA fine announcement here.
