Business owner says Biden vaccine mandate puts him in a difficult situation
Florida launching fight against vaccination requirements
Hours after the Biden administration moved forward with COVID-19 vaccination requirements for tens of millions of workers, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday that Florida will join Georgia, Alabama, and private plaintiffs in filing a legal challenge.
LAKE MARY, Fla. - James Crocker is the owner of Hog Technologies which employs about 200 people. Crocker feels he and many other entrepreneurs have just been put into a difficult situation.
"I will not enforce a policy on them that they may disagree with," said Crocker.
Private businesses with over 100 employees now have until January 4, 2022, to vaccinate their entire staff or face upwards of $14,000 in fines per infraction.
"I don’t know what 14,000 is times 200. That’s a pretty big number. It’s not something that I would be able to pay," said Crocker.
Crocker and others wonder what kind of effect the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) emergency mandate will have on their ability to finance their company, contract government jobs, or even retain qualified staff.
"A lot of people are not going to comply," said Jade Zalewski. "They’re either going to quit the local businesses or the businesses are going to have to deal with fines."
An organization called Mandates Won’t Fly has been organizing protests for weeks against any mandatory vaccinations. They see this as an overreach by the federal government that will affect more than just those unwilling to get the shot.
"Everybody’s going to be affected by it and they are already talking about business with under 100 employees," said Zalewski.
Shannon Kelly is an attorney with Allen, Norton & Blue, P.A. She works specifically with employers. She believes the legal pushback could push back the Jan. 4 deadline.
"To those employers, I would say you have some time to wait to see how that plays out," said Kelly. "There are a fair number of exemptions possible for medical and religious reasons. There’s also some employees that this law doesn’t seem to cover it all."
While Kelly believes there will be a fair bit of pushback from those that feel this is a government overreach, she also feels there may be pushback from those who believe it doesn’t go far enough.
"It doesn’t apply to people who work primarily outdoors. It doesn’t apply to people working from home," said Kelly. "Even allowing people at all who are unvaccinated in the workplace."
Kelly believes there still may be some changes to the OSHA emergency order in the future that may also one day apply to smaller employers as well.
Watch FOX 35 News for the latest weather updates.