Texas Senate considers ban on private business vaccine mandates

The Texas Senate this month approved a measure that would prohibit private businesses from adopting Covid-19 vaccine mandates or penalizing employees for forgoing the jab.

The ban would fine employers up to $10,000 per violation for enforcing a mandate or terminating an employee, contractor, or applicant who refuses the vaccine. The fine could be waived if the employer hired the applicant or reinstated the terminated employee, according to the bill.

The bill was authored by Republican Sen. Mayes Middleton. “It’s about protecting individual liberties and medical freedom for all Texans,” Middleton said during a committee hearing on the bill. “No one should be forced to make that awful decision between making a living for their family and their health or their individual vaccine preference.”

The bill was approved by the Senate 19–12, and is now under consideration by a Texas House committee. A similar measure passed the Texas upper chamber last session, but stalled in the House.

Confederation of the ban by Texas lawmakers comes as the latest surge in hospital admissions peaked earlier last month, and after Gov. Greg Abbott’s October 2021 executive order prohibiting employers from mandating employees get vaccinated expired in June.

In May, the Biden administration lifted its federal vaccine mandate for government employees and contractors, after the end of the classification of Covid-19 as a federal emergency. Texas in June passed a law banning vaccine mandates by government entities.

What’s HR to do? If passed, employers in Texas would be barred from vaccine mandates outright, meaning if a mandate existed with exceptions—such as for medical or religious reasons—the company would still be in violation. HR pros with Texas employees may needed to update vaccine policies.