Employees of private and government entities may have the opportunity to sue their employers for up to $1 million for health problems arising from the COVID-19 vaccine mandates should a new Oklahoma Senate bill pass into law.
Republican State Senator Rob Standridge introduced the bill titled the “Citizen Health Mandate Protection Act” or SB 1106, last Friday. The bill allows employees to sue employers for medical issues that are the result of vaccine mandates if they conditional for employment. If the forced medical operation results in harm, the employer may be liable for up to $1 million.
The legislation follows Democrat President Biden’s sweeping labor laws earlier in the month; 500 pages worth of vaccine mandates for all federal contractors and employees as well as vaccine / screening requirements for private businesses with 100 or more workers.
In a statement, Standridge said that COVID-19 vaccines are granted liability protection by the federal government. Therefore if an employee is forced to receive the vaccine in order to keep their job, there is no means of recourse or “meaningful relief” for that individual. That is the problem that Standridge’s legislation aims to correct.
Biden’s vaccine order, run through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, currently lists in legal limbo after the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals put a stay on the regulation in response to a blitz of legal challenges. The vaccine mandate was stayed, according to the court, on grounds of “statutory and constitutional issues.”
Ignoring the court’s ruling, the White House continues to push Biden’s dictate by pressuring companies to enforce the order anyway while the legal process proceeds.
Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House Deputy Press Secretary said last week that “people should not wait” to enforce vaccine mandates and screening in the workplace.
Biden faces resistance from his own party regarding the rule which many find overbearing. Democrat Governor of Kansa, Laura Kelly, formally came out in opposition to the OSHA rule shortly following its publication. Kelley said that while the rule may have been written with the intention of “keep[ing] people safe” she disagreed that it was “correct, or… effective” for her own state.
Kelley said that it’s far too late in the game to start implementing federal regulations when states have already developed their own strategies tailored to their own specific needs.
Author: Margaret Reed
