Most of the back-and-forth over President Biden’s looming vaccine mandate on businesses has focused on vaccinations. The Indiana Chamber is raising concerns about the other half of the order.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is finalizing the regulation, which Biden has said will require workers at large businesses to get tested for COVID weekly unless they’re vaccinated. Chamber president Kevin Brinegar says he’s concerned businesses will get stuck with the bill. The vaccine is available at no cost, but Brinegar says the final rule should make workers pay the cost of testing if they refuse the vaccine. He notes the vaccine’s been available for several months.
The Chamber opposes the mandate, which Brinegar argues “crosses the line” in telling businesses how to operate. He complains it puts businesses in the position of firing workers who refuse to obey a requirement the company wasn’t responsible for imposing.
Brinegar predicts legal challenges to the order, but says the Chamber’s immediate concern is learning the final language of the rule. He says he has a long list of questions about the fine points of the regulation — not only who pays for testing, but how long businesses will have to implement the rule, and which companies are covered. Biden has said it’ll apply to businesses with more than 100 employees, but Brinegar says that could mean 100 employees in one workplace, or across the whole company.
