Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the emergency temporary standard (ETS) from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requiring certain employers to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine or regular testing. The vote was 6-3, with the six conservative justices all voting against. We’re relieved for Hoosier employers because this was a clear case of federal overreach and a blatant attack on employers’ rights.

The Indiana Chamber was adamantly opposed to the federal government weighing in and telling employers that they would have to require vaccinations and/or testing. We think it was particularly onerous that the OSHA rule would have required employers to fire employees who refused to either get vaccinated or regularly test for COVID-19. It’s not the federal government’s place to get involved in personnel decisions and tell employers who to fire or when they need to fire people.

But it wasn’t all good news from the Supreme Court. We were disappointed that the Court upheld the federal government’s vaccine mandate for most health care workers. Because again, that’s dictating employee policy to employers that know their workplaces and workforce best.

On a related note: On January 19, the Chamber and Wellness Council of Indiana (WCI) will host a virtual employer seminar, “Variants, Vaccines/Boosters and Mandates: Key COVID-19 Employer Updates,” led by attorneys from Ice Miller LLP.

State Measure Ready for Floor Vote

We are now hyper-focused on the related activity at the Indiana General Assembly. What’s in House Bill 1001 becomes all the more critical now that the state law will be the law of the land with no federal mandate. As currently written, the legislation makes it virtually unfeasible for employers to continue with or implement a vaccine requirement if they choose to do so. The Indiana Chamber will certainly be redoubling its efforts to try to eliminate any interference from state government for those employers that want to take that step.

We have several key objections to the bill. It requires employers to provide a COVID-19 testing option to those employees who claim an exemption from the vaccine. The legislation also significantly expands the religious exemption criteria—essentially if you request it, you get it. In committee last week, language was added that says employees who are terminated for not getting vaccinated or not following the testing guidelines would be eligible for unemployment compensation. As that provision was initially written, the employer would have their unemployment insurance taxes go up to cover those benefits. Then yesterday, that was amended to take out the employer-specific penalty, but it still says that these employees can draw unemployment benefits – which is not what the unemployment system is designed to do.

House Bill 1001 cleared the second reading amendment phase yesterday, and would be eligible for a final vote in the House next week.

Our analysis is there is not nearly as much enthusiasm for this bill on the Senate side. The Senate is focused on SB 3, which only includes the first three sections of HB 1001 dealing with the Governor’s emergency orders. Our hope would be that the Senate jettisons the rest of HB 1001 and focuses on this aspect, which we support.

Resource: Kevin Brinegar at (317) 264-6882 or email: kbrinegar@indianachamber.com