The Texas Senate has approved a bill that would prohibit businesses from requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for workers.
The bill states that employers “may not take an adverse action against an employee, contractor, applicant for employment, or applicant for a contract position for a refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19.”
An adverse action is defined as “an action taken by an employer that a reasonable person would consider was for the purpose of punishing, alienating, or otherwise adversely affecting” employees, contractors, and applicants.
State Sen. Mayes Middleton, the Republican who crafted the legislation, said the bill “protects individual liberties and the medical freedom of all Texans.”
“No one should be forced to make the awful decision between making a living to provide for their family and their health or their individual vaccine preference,” Mr. Middleton said on the Senate floor before the vote.
State Sen. Nathan Johnson, a Democrat, opposed the legislation.
“You’re creating a new protected class, a big act of government, and you’re ... interfering with the private judgment of business owners—something that used to be sacrosanct in this state,” Mr. Johnson said on the floor. “And now apparently anybody who has a disagreement, who thinks that some requirement of their employer affects their health, has a right to work there anyway?”
State Sen. Robert Nichols, a Republican, said his constituents would say they oppose COVID-19 vaccine mandates but also say the state shouldn’t intervene in the relationship between employees and employers. Employees who don’t like certain workplace conditions can go work elsewhere, he said.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican, offered his support after the state Senate passed the bill.
“Over the past few years, too many Texans have had to decide between their jobs and their health,” he said in a statement. “The passage of SB 7 will return medical freedom to Texans and ensure that they will not lose their livelihood over their personal health decisions. The Texas Senate will pass this bill over and over again until it passes the Texas House.”
The Texas House of Representatives State Affairs Committee has received the legislation.
The Texas Senate has passed multiple bills in recent years barring businesses from mandating COVID-19 vaccines, but the state House hasn’t approved them.
Both chambers, and the governor’s mansion, are controlled by Republicans.
Another bill was passed by both chambers and signed by Mr. Abbott. It bans governments and hospital districts from mandating vaccination.
Fines Possible
If Mr. Middleton’s bill is passed by the House and signed into law, it would open employers who still try to mandate vaccination to fines.Complaints over mandates can be filed by employees, contractors, and applicants, and the Texas Workforce Commission would investigate those complaints. The commission would be able to impose a fine of up to $10,000 for each violation.
The employer would be able to avoid the fines if it hires the applicant or reinstates the worker or contractor and gives them back pay from the date on which it took the adverse action. Employers would also need to reverse the effects of the action, including by reinstating employee benefits.
Even if the employer takes those steps, though, the commission could recover costs for its investigation. The commission could absorb the extra work with its current resources, according to a note from the office to lawmakers.
There are exceptions in the act for health care providers and doctors.
The act says that health care providers and doctors “may establish and enforce a reasonable policy including requiring the use of protective medical equipment by an individual who is an employee or contractor of the facility, provider, or physician and who is not vaccinated against COVID-19 based on the level of risk the individual presents to patients from the individual’s routine and direct exposure to patients.”
The act would take effect on the 91st day after the last day of the legislative session.
