Vaccine Mandate for Employees? Some Companies Already Have One

KCRW reports that beginning March 1, the Silverado long-term care community chain, with most locations in Southern California, started mandating COVID vaccines for staff. Silverado founder Loren Shook says before the mandate, as few as 50 percent of staff at some of the communities were voluntarily inoculated, and he was concerned about driving employees away in an industry that is already short-staffed. Now Silverado's worker vaccination rate is 97 percent, and fewer than 1 percent of their staff have quit while the other 2 percent either obtained an exemption or are attempting to get one. "If there is some sort of virus or pandemic or some other thing that creates a direct threat to the health and safety of others in the workplace, the employers can try to manage that," says Mizrahi Law founder Ramit Mizrahi. "If a vaccine is available that can mitigate that risk, employers are allowed to mandate that." Mizrahi adds that a vaccine requirement must come with several exemptions: a disability exemption for people who could have a severe allergic reaction to an ingredient in the vaccine, or a condition that prevents inoculation; and a religious exemption.