President Joe Biden's Administration allegedly eases on the COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the face of federal contracts being dropped by suppliers.
The Washington Examiner reported that the White House is easing out with "more flexibility" for federal contractors out of fears that their vaccination mandate would push these companies to drop their contracts. The White House announced this through an "updated guidance" on the mandates released on Monday.
The revised guidance for federal contractors stipulate that it is up to the said companies to attend to their employees who refuse to be vaccinated by December 8. The guidance also elaborated that such "enforcement" may entail hiring policies, collective bargaining agreements, as well as, employee manuals.
"A covered contractor should determine the appropriate means of enforcement with respect to its employee at a covered contractor workplace who refuses to be vaccinated and has not been provided, or does not have a pending request for, an accommodation," the White House guidance read.
"This may include the covered contractor using its usual processes for enforcement of workplace policies, such as those addressed in the contractor's employee handbook or collective bargaining agreements," it added.
Besides giving contractors the leeway to handle employee's non-compliance, the revised White House guidance directs companies to base policies on it from the federal government's. The guidance highlighted implementing "counseling and education" and excusing several noncompliance warnings prior to terminating the employee.
"Guidance for Federal agencies is to utilize an enforcement policy that encourages compliance, including through a limited period of counseling and education, followed by additional disciplinary measures if necessary," the White House guidance stressed.
The guidance on the vaccine mandate is said to be revised in response to business groups and companies objecting to it. National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors President Eric Hoplin have earlier raised that there will be supply chain problems born from massive layoffs due to the vaccine mandate being pushed through. Hoplin called on the government in a statement to make revisions to the vaccine mandate's implementation to avoid the employment crisis from worsening.
"NAW urges that the Executive Order's implementation be revised to avoid this calamity and provide alternatives to promote safety, including testing, and consider a short-term delay to provide time to carry out these changes and to avoid further supply chain disruptions in the coming months," Hoplin said.
Biden released two executive orders in September mandating the Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration to implement an emergency temporary standard for the COVID-19 vaccines on all workers for companies with at least 100 companies in the country, encompassing federal contractors and employees.
Many legislators, governors such as Texas's Greg Abbott, civic groups, and individuals have spoken against the vaccine mandates. Abbott has issued his own executive order that prohibits the enforcement of the mandates in his state by "any entity," after calling Biden's a "federal overreach." While Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sued Biden last September for the vaccine mandate, calling it "unconstitutional."
Ironically, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the "federal government does not mandate (require) vaccination for people" even though Biden persistently pushes it as part of his COVID-19 Rescue Plan since it he and the administration claims it is "the best tool to fight" the pandemic.
