Supreme Court ruling on vaccination mandate will not prevent companies from requesting Covid vaccination for workers – Biden promises to push for it

Supreme Court ruling banning Biden administration’s mandate to vaccinate against Covid for employees of large employers will not prevent U.S. companies from requiring vaccinations for their workers.

the President Joe Biden promised on Thursday that he would encourage companies to do just that to save American lives and prevent even more of the financial consequences of the two-year coronavirus pandemic.

“The court has ruled that my administration cannot use the powers given to it by Congress to demand this measure, but that doesn’t stop me as president from advocating for employers to do the right thing to protect the health and economy of Americans. , “Biden said in a statement.

“I urge business people to immediately join those who have already stepped up – including one-third of Fortune 100 companies – and introduce vaccination requirements to protect their workers, customers and communities,” Biden said.

The Supreme Court yesterday on Thursday blocked a rule issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the fall, which would require companies with at least 100 employees to either vaccinate workers against Covid-19 or wear masks at work and are tests negative for the virus at least once a week.

The High Court said in its ruling that OSHA had the powers granted by Congress to regulate occupational hazards, the agency did not have the authority “for regular public health more broadly.”

The National Retail Foundation praised the ruling as an “important victory” for employers.

The NRF said in a statement that it had joined more than two dozen other professional associations this week to make oral arguments against the mandate, which it described as “difficult and unprecedented”.

But the retail foundation also said it had “maintained a strong and consistent stance on the importance of vaccines to help overcome this pandemic.”

And in anticipation of Biden’s later statement on the verdict, the NRF said it “calls on Biden’s administration to abandon this illegal mandate and instead work with employers, employees and public health professionals on practical ways to increase vaccination rates and mitigate the spread of the virus in 2022. “

Starbucks last month, he said all U.S. workers of the giant chain of cafes must be vaccinated or tested by Feb. 9.

They used to be big employers too American Express, Amtrak, Citigroup, General Electric, Google, Jeffries, NBCUniversal, Southwest Airlines, Tyson Foods in United Airlines impose a vaccination mandate on employees or at least workers returning to physical offices.

This is a story in development. Check again for updates.

Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.