In an effort to keep COVID
cases from continuing to rise,
President Biden announced a
vaccine mandate on Thursday.
It says all federal workers and government
contractors will be required to get
fully vaccinated or get tested weekly,
along with companies who
have more than 100 employees.
It's part of a six step plan
to get more people vaccinated.
9 News legal analyst Whitney
Traylor joins us now to talk more
about the legality of it all.
Good morning, Whitney.
Good
morning Eddie. Good to see
you good morning everyone.
Good to see you too.
So we already know that there
are organizations like the
Republican National Committee
that says they plan to sue.
So if this gets tide up in court,
it's going to take some time.
So what will employers do in the meantime?
Right, it's a good question and
I think it will be challenged.
As you mentioned,
the RNC has has mentioned that
they're going to challenge it,
and there's already been litigation
from private employers and others
who have challenged these masked
mandates and vaccine mandates.
And so I suspect that
the order will come down.
It's supposed to be issued
by the Department of Labor,
I think, through OSHA,
the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration,
so it will be administered through OSHA and.
They're the the body.
The government agency that,
among other things,
ensures safety in the workplace.
And so that's why OSHA is saying,
look,
the the vaccine in the virus
is creating unsafe conditions
and working environments,
and so they're the ones who
will be administering it.
And I don't know when the order comes out,
when it will actually be implemented,
but employers will have to follow
that even while the the cases
are litigated even while it's.
Being challenged,
you
just answered one of my questions
when I'm gonna go to this one.
Are there any other court cases
similar that sets precedent
for what is actually happening
right now? Yeah, there are several cases
in the original one goes all the way back
to 1905 in Jacobson versus Massachusetts.
In that case, the court,
the United States Supreme Court said yes,
you can mandate a vaccine,
even though it may push on
those personal liberties.
They're saying that the public
good outweighs that.
There's also been a lot of cases where the
courts have upheld vaccines from the schools,
and so and actually every every state has.
Some level of mandatory vaccine
required for its students,
so there is precedent based on the 1905 case.
In 1922, Supreme Court case and then we
also have from both the EEOC and OSHA.
We have various regulations where they've
indicated that a mandatory vaccine
they believe will be upheld as long as
the employer includes a religious or a
medical exemption so that someone can.
Can opt out
and Whitney, you know.
We've seen mass mandates and vaccine
mandates throughout the country.
Generally speaking,
are these actions constitutional?
Right, it's it's a great question,
and I think generally they are
going to be constitutional,
certainly with the mask mandates.
There have been challenges
throughout the country,
including here in Colorado.
A FedEx employee sued over
the mask mandate and lost,
but throughout the country there
have been cases both on the the
mask and the vaccine mandate.
For the most part,
the courts are ruling in
favor of the employers,
but of course,
now keep in mind with President Biden.
Executive order he there is sort of the I
don't know if they opt out is the right word,
but it is the right word because they
can choose to get tested every week.
Now some the that's the private
employers with more than 100 employees.
They can choose to get tested every week,
but some of the federal contractors that
contract with the executive branch.
They are saying that there
will be no opt out provision.
So if those folks are doing business with
the federal government they will have to,
you know, comply with this.
Order if it's deemed constitutional.
And of course it's going to
go through the courts.
It will likely end up with
the Supreme Court and will,
probably,
you know,
will have a ruling this year or next year,
I suspect.
Such a huge and controversial topic.
Whitney as always. Thank you for joining
us this morning. We really appreciate
it. It's always good to be here. Thank you.