Executive Order Mandates Vaccination for All Federal Employees, Contractors
President Biden signed an Executive Order requiring all federal employees and contractors get vaccinated against COVID-19.
The order is part of a six-pronged, comprehensive national strategy to overcome the pandemic called “Path out of the Pandemic.” The six parts of the plan consists of vaccinating the unvaccinated, further protecting the vaccinated, keeping schools safely open, increasing testing and requiring masking, protecting our economic recovery, and improving care for those with COVID-19.
As previously reported by FEDManager, the administration in July allowed federal employees to remain unvaccinated or refuse to disclose their vaccination status if they were willing to undergo regular COVID-19 testing. With the new Executive Order, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force announced that employees have until November 22, 2021 to be fully vaccinated. Federal agencies are no longer required to implement testing programs for unvaccinated employees and onsite contractors.
The Executive Order signed on September 9, 2021 also requires companies with more than 100 employees to require vaccination or weekly testing for their workforce, among other policies aimed at preventing Covid-19 and the spread of the delta variant
Agencies can expect further guidance on the vaccination requirement soon. According to the guidance, “[The Safer Federal Workforce] Task Force shall issue guidance within 7 days of the date of this order on agency implementation of this requirement for all agencies covered by this order.”
In a speech to on September 9, 2021, President Biden explained his decision to require vaccination. He said, “If we raise our vaccination rate, protect ourselves and others with masking and expanded testing, and identify people who are infected, we can and we will turn the tide on COVID-19.”
Here is a look at what federal employee associations and unions are saying about the order:
Matt Biggs, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Employees (IFPTE), told GovExec, “As a labor union that is committed to advocating and working toward a safe and healthy workplace for all of our members, IFPTE continues to support vaccine mandates, with the caveat that the impact and implementation of the mandate policy, or any other policy impacting workers, be bargained with labor.”
Senior Executives Association (SEA) President Bob Corsi expressed support for the mandate in a statement saying, “Getting vaccinated is the surest way to protect the health and welfare of oneself and others, including colleagues in the workplace. Vaccinations have been deemed to be effective in mitigating COVID-19 related hospitalizations and deaths. By mandating their use, the federal government is leading, by setting a strong example for other organizations and industry to model.”
Meanwhile, President Larry Cosme of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA), opposed the order and claimed it would undermine voluntary compliance. Cosme explained, “The COVID-19 pandemic is a rapidly evolving and emotional trying situation. In the face of so many uncertainties, our federal government should trust its employees to make their own medical decision under consultation with their doctor, not mandate by their employer. Vaccination should be promoted through education and encouragement – not coercion.”
Cosme continued, “This executive order villainizes employees for reasonable concerns and hesitancies and inserts the federal government into individual medical decisions. People should not be made to feel uncomfortable for making a reasonable medical choice.”
Executive Director Chad Hooper of the Professional Managers Association (PMA), which represents IRS managers, supported the mandate as a “welcome departure” from the Administration’s testing plan, which Hooper said, “exacerbated resource constraints, lacked effective coordination between central management offices and agency leaders, and exposed managers to potential liability.”
Hooper continued, “To make this mandate more comforting to federal employees, PMA urges the administration to allow Federal Occupational Health (FOH) Centers to carry a COVID-19 vaccine supply. Many IRS workers rely on FOH Centers to get their annual flu vaccine and may feel more comfortable obtaining this type of care from someone they already trust… As an association representing IRS leaders, it is our view that the Federal workforce should defer to the expertise of our peers across government. As we would expect our colleagues at the CDC and FDA to trust our tax expertise, so too we expect the IRS workforce to trust their medical expertise.
According to Federal News Network, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) acknowledged the federal government, like most employers, has the legal right to require the vaccine for federal workers.
“NTEU will monitor closely the implementation of this policy at the agencies where we represent employees to make sure that those with medical and religious exceptions are accommodated,” Tony Reardon, the union’s national president, said. “Like always, NTEU will work to eliminate the barriers to vaccination, including having agencies continue to provide employees with duty time to get vaccinated and time off to recover from any potential side effects and, as much as possible, offer vaccinations at the workplace. Additionally, we will work to ensure that employees have ample time to comply and that due process is followed.”
