THE LAWSUIT: The first lawsuit brought by employees against mandatory vaccination has failed in spectacular fashion. A private hospital in Texas required the COVID-19 vaccine in order to keep patients and each other safe. Get the shot or get fired. It is worth exploring these often-heard claims, detailed below with the Judge’s response in red:
- Wrongful termination: In Texas you cannot be fired for refusing to engage in an illegal act. Inoculation against COVID-19 is not illegal, oh and the vaccine is not experimental or dangerous btw.
- Against public policy: Texas has no public policy carve out to its at-will doctrine–and even if it did, vaccination is consistent with public policy with the EEOC allowing mandatory vaccinations in the workplace.
- We are not human guinea pigs: Now it gets interesting. The FDA has given emergency use/authorization for the vaccines. That use requires informed consent. The plaintiffs claim they are being coerced which is not consent. Even though the plaintiffs are privately employed and the federal argument does not apply, the Judge explains why this argument is false: The plaintiffs have misconstrued and misrepresented the facts: this is not an experiment being conducted by the hospital. They are administering a vaccine that has been used over 300 million times.
- The Nuremberg Code: Likening mandatory vaccinations to medical experiments conducted by the Nazis, the plaintiffs cite this code– which is not a legal claim here. The Judge takes it home: The Nuremberg Code does not apply because [the Hospital] is a private employer, not a government. Equating the injection requirement to medical experimentation in concentration camps is reprehensible.
So, if your employees–or neighbor, friend, spouse–make any of these claims about the vaccine, you can tell them what they are saying in Texas…and likely all other courts.
OSHA RELAXES: OSHA suspends reporting requirement for mandatory vaccine’s side effects:
“DOL and OSHA, as well as other federal agencies, are working diligently to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations. OSHA does not wish to have any appearance of discouraging workers from receiving COVID-19 vaccination, and also does not wish to disincentivize employers’ vaccination efforts. As a result, OSHA will not enforce 29 CFR 1904’s recording requirements to require any employers to record worker side effects from COVID-19 vaccination through May 2022. We will reevaluate the agency’s position at that time to determine the best course of action moving forward.”
Good news for employers! Questions? We can help.