Expert: Businesses Can Mandate Vaccines for Employees
Illinois-based United Airlines has announced new employees will be required to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. A legal expert says businesses are within their rights to require vaccinations.
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Private businesses large and small are beginning to require COVID-19 vaccinations for employees. Just this week, Advocate Aurora Health, which operates 10 hospitals in Chicago and the suburbs, mandated all employees receive the vaccine, even if they are remote workers or don’t directly work with patients.
While there have been lawsuits around the country, mostly against public employers, judges have so far upheld vaccine mandates.
University of Illinois Law Professor Matthew Finkin, a noted expert on labor and employment law, says he’s not aware of any state law or legal precedent prohibiting a business from mandating a vaccine. He also says federal law makes it clear a business is within its rights to mandate vaccines.
“This isn’t rocket science,” Firkin said. “Businesses mandating a vaccination for the good of their employees or the good of society is well within their rights.”
He says employers would be required to provide “limited” accommodations to employees who aren’t physically able to take a vaccine or those who need a religious exemption.
But, it’s likely the challenges will continue.
“It’s as much a numbers game as anything else,” said Norma Zeitler, partner at law firm Barnes & Thornburg LLP, told health care publication Med City News. “The more employees [that are told by an employer] to do something that [they] either do not want to do or cannot do, the more likely it is that an employee…will challenge the requirement in court.”
Chicago-based United Airlines is requiring new employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. But, in May, the airline reached an agreement with its pilots union to prohibit a vaccination requirement for pilots. United has an estimated 4,000 employees working at its Wills Tower headquarters as well as in and around O’Hare International Airport.
State Farm, the state’s largest private employer, with an estimated 13,000 employees in the state, has not imposed a vaccine mandate. A company spokeswoman says State Farm is requiring face coverings for everyone in their Bloomington corporate offices.
“At this time, State Farm is not requiring employees to receive the vaccine,” the spokesperson said. “State Farm encourages all employees, who are able, to consider the potential health benefits of getting vaccinated.”
We’re told Deerfield-based Walgreen Company is requiring corporate employees in Deerfield and Chicago to receive the vaccine, but isn’t requiring vaccinations for employees at Walgreens pharmacy stores or its distribution center in Mt. Vernon.
We reached out to some of the state’s other largest employers, including Abbott Laboratories, Allstate, and Northern Trust Corporation, but none of them responded to our inquiries.
