United States President Joe Biden’s requirement that all Federal Public Servants be vaccinated against COVID-19 could see vaccine refusers being paid to stay at home while their case is adjudicated, according to officials.
The officials have said the often arcane labour relations laws could complicate — and lengthen — the process and further upend a Government struggling to return to normal.
The rules could have the effect of allowing the thousands of Public Servants who are expected to refuse a vaccine to stay at home, not working, while legal process and appeals were worked through, raising thorny questions about rewards for intransigence.
Mr Biden’s most aggressive action yet to protect Government workers from the virus and offer a model to the country’s other employers came less than six weeks after a separate order instructing 2.1 million civilian Federal employees to get vaccinated or face repeated testing.
However, that plan was beset by challenges and had barely begun to roll out at many Agencies, according to multiple Federal officials.
Some workers have raised the possibility that vaccine-hesitant employees who are close to retirement, believed to number in the hundreds of thousands, could seek to quit their jobs early.
Part of the challenge facing managers and employees and the unions that represent them is what they don’t know.
White House officials on the Coronavirus Taskforce are facing a barrage of questions about the mandate, with many raising concerns about discipline for employees who refuse shots, managers’ expertise and bandwidth to review requests for exemptions.
The White House has offered few details, but the Taskforce has promised it will issue clearer guidance shortly.
Washington, 13 September 2021
