What Is The Latest On Vaccine Mandates In Canada And The United States?

Both national and local policymakers in Canada and the United States continue to issue new rules for what individuals can and cannot do if they are not vaccinated against COVID-19 and to issue mandates for how businesses should handle vaccines and their workforce.

What is the latest?

Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau outlined new policies for Canadians and reiterated past announcements that require:

• All federal employees to be fully vaccinated by October 29, 2021 or to be placed on unpaid leave. This requirement does not apply to employees of Canada’s provincial and local governments, but some provinces have enacted their own mandates.
• All commercial air travelers to Canada, passengers on trains between provinces, and cruise ship passengers to present proof of vaccination starting October 30, 2021. This requirement does not apply to travelers under the age of 12.

While Prime Minister Trudeau has not yet announced a plan for private sector workers, back in August the Society for Human Resources Management noted more and more Canadian companies are “moving toward mandatory vaccination.” That trend is expected to continue and to broaden beyond life at work. As Politico has explained, for example, after October 12, 2021 on Canada’s west coast, individuals will be blocked from visiting elderly relatives in nursing homes if they are unvaccinated. In Alberta, members of Parliament must be vaccinated.

Meanwhile, as Connecting the Dots reported in September, U.S. President Joe Biden has asked the Department of Labor and Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) to write regulations requiring that all companies with 100 or more employees require their workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or to undergo regular testing.

Those rules still have not been released, but last week President Biden urged private companies to mandate the vaccinations anyway since the OSHA rulemaking process could take several more weeks to write and implement. President Biden said, “Businesses have more power than ever before to change the arc of this pandemic and save lives.”

The president’s request comes as more companies, and more U.S. states, are requiring vaccines or regular testing. According to Axios:

• The share of job postings per million that require vaccination spiked 242 percent in the last month.
• One survey of legal and human resources officers at U.S. companies found 46 percent of firms plan to issue vaccine mandates, and 36 percent are still contemplating them. Only 17 percent of business leaders surveyed said their company will not issue mandates.
• While companies are willing to fire employees who do not comply with vaccine mandates, more than seven in 10 business leaders also worry mandates will lead to more workers quitting their jobs.

U.S. states also continue to issue their own policies regarding the COVID-19. Wondering what is happening in your state? Littler is tracking those developments here.