Earlier this year, President Joe Biden announced several sweeping vaccine mandates, with one of them requiring all federal employees to get vaccinated or face termination. However, a new report suggests that Biden may be backing down on that front.
According to Forbes, the Biden administration will hold off on firing unvaccinated workers until the new year despite having previously set a vaccination deadline of Nov. 22.
A spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) told Forbes that instead of facing immediate dismissal, the unvaccinated will be subjected to an “education and counseling period” beginning in December.
“Enforcement process”
Those comments are echoed by an updated provision of a guideline detailing how federal agencies are to proceed with regard to the issue of unvaccinated employees.
“Consistent with the Administration’s policy, agencies should initiate an enforcement process to work with employees to achieve their compliance,” the guideline reads.
“Accordingly, agencies should initiate the enforcement process with an appropriate period of education and counseling, including providing employees with information regarding the benefits of vaccination and ways to obtain the vaccine,” the guideline continued.
It went on to state that if “the employee does not demonstrate progress toward becoming fully vaccinated,” then “agencies may issue a letter of reprimand, followed by a short suspension (generally, 14 days or less).”
The guideline concludes by announcing that those who exhibit “continued noncompliance” while on suspension “can be followed by proposing removal.”
More legal roadblocks
The Biden administration’s softening of its stance towards unvaccinated federal employees comes even as its other vaccine mandates have continued to run into legal hurdles.
Fox News reported in November that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) decided to halt its requirement for businesses with more than 100 employees to verify their workers’ vaccination status.
The decision came after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld an injunction issued against enforcement of the rule by a lower court.
What’s more, Fox News reported Monday that U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp blocked another mandate forcing healthcare workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Schelp’s ruling impacts residents of Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming
The post Biden backs down on vaccine mandates, will not fire anyone until January first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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