Another week and another challenge to employer mandated coronavirus vaccine requirements. In this week’s edition, we see a stalemate between Southwest & American Air following an order from the Texas Governor that prohibits employers in the state from requiring vaccines as a condition of employment. While the subsequent articles I note are worth reading, I wanted to lead things off with this particular topic.
As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week.
Southwest & American Air Intend to Require Vaccines, Despite Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s Order
On Monday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed an order that prohibits employers in the state from requiring their employees get the coronavirus vaccine as a condition of employment. (Governor Abbott has also called for a special session in which he wants the Texas Legislature to pass a similar law.) As some readers might be aware, Southwest and American Air are both headquartered in the Dallas Fort Worth area. However, Governor Abbott’s order conflicts with the federal mandate in place that all businesses that have a federal contract are required to have a fully vaccinated workforce. As Oriana Pawlyk at Politico writes, both Southwest and American Air have indicated they intend to proceed ahead with the requirement that its workforces be fully vaccinated by the start of December or risk termination. According to reports, these employers believe that federal law supersedes state law. As with many of the vaccine mandates in the workplace, I suspect this will get tied up in litigation sooner rather than later.
Paid Federal Leave Could Cost Up to $20 Billion By 2027
A paid leave bill is currently working its way through Congress, which could provide all federal workers with up to twelve weeks of paid leave to deal with a personal illness, care for a family member with a serious illness, or in connection with a family member going (or returning) from active duty. As with any bill working its way through Congress, the Congressional Budget Office (“CBO”) provides an estimate of how much the proposed legislation would cost. In this instance, the CBO estimated that depending upon how much leave is actually used by each federal employee, the total cost could reach $20 billion during the fiscal years of 2022 - 2027. These numbers might be eye watering to some readers. Although with the debt crisis temporarily at bay until December, what’s another $20 billion added to the national debt…?
28 New York Based Groups Call for Senate Vote on Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
Earlier this week, 28 New York based groups sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and urged the Senate to vote on the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. That legislation, which passed the House and is stuck in the Senate, would require employers with 15 or more employees to provide pregnant workers with mutually agreed upon reasonable accommodations. Currently, employers are not required to provide pregnant workers with any accommodation as pregnant workers are not considered to be “disabled” under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). (For those unaware, the ADA stipulates that disabled workers are entitled to a reasonable accommodation from their employer to account for a worker’s disability, so long as the accommodation request is not unreasonably burdensome on the employer.)
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