An attorney for 13 current and former employees of a county-owned nursing home is arguing the state’s consideration of an anti-mandate vaccination law should get his clients their jobs back.
Newly passed Wisconsin legislation backed by Republicans, as yet unsigned by Gov. Tony Evers (D), would prevent employers from requiring the COVID-19 vaccine.
Michael Anderson is representing Rock Haven Nursing Home workers who disagree with the facility’s policy and workers who have already been laid off because of it.
Unless the governor vetoes the law, Anderson told local media, the new law should compel Rock County officials to end their policy and rehire anyone dismissed because they refused vaccines.
“There will be dates when the county’s current practice is in direct contravention of state law,” Anderson said. “It’s ironic that these were folks that were heralded as heroes, and now they’ve kind of been thrown to the curb and they don’t feel good about it.”
Lawmakers in almost two dozen states had introduced anti-mandate legislation by earlier this month. The bills, mostly backed by Republicans, would limit employers’ ability to require coronavirus vaccines for their staff members. Some proposals even went so far as to propose limitations on the ability of workplaces to require any vaccines at all, potentially undoing decades of federally permitted rules that govern requirements for flu, hepatitis B vaccines among staff members at healthcare facilities including nursing homes.
By mid-March, none of the proposals had passed, and several already have failed, according to the Washington Post.
Legal and insurance experts have said that vaccination mandates are likely to withstand legal challenges once the medicines move out from emergency-use authorization and are approved for general use.
Evers’ office has not yet signaled whether he will veto the attempt to quash employer mandates in his state.
