Employers face patchwork of state policies on worker vaccination after Supreme Court order

The Supreme Court’s decision that large companies do not have to force workers to get coronavirus shots or tests leaves employers facing a patchwork of clashing state policies over their role in protecting their workforces from the surging pandemic.The court order Thursday lands on the polarized American landscape just three days after employers with at least 100 workers — apart from the relatively few that already required vaccines or testing — put into effect vaccine verification and other aspects of the rule. Greg Ferrara, president of the National Grocers Association, said in a statement that his group would support efforts to increase vaccine acceptance “that will not place added pressure on an already strained food supply chain and labor force.”The American Trucking Associations, one of Washington’s most conservative advocacy groups, said the OSHA standard would have interfered with “individuals’ private health-care decisions.” Chris Spear, the group’s president, said the court order will allow the industry to “continue to deliver critical goods, as our nation recovers from the pandemic and we move our economy forward.”Advocates for working people, though, said that employees will be less protected from the virus without a federal requirement that they get vaccinated or submit to frequent tests.“When we don’t have verifiable or enforceable safety laws in this country, the risk is just on the back of the worker,” said Kim Cordova, president of the Colorado branch of the United Food and Commercial Workers.Cordova said some employers, including Colorado meatpackers, had quietly pushed for a federal vaccine requirement so they could avoid political backlash from workers and conservative lawmakers if the companies adopted such a policy on their own.