Welcome to the twelfth issue of the 2021 edition of Unprecedented. Since the COVID-19 vaccines were approved, most employment lawyers agree employers can require employees to become vaccinated (although they are more divided on whether employers should). But that hasn’t stopped employees from challenging vaccination mandates in courts across the country. A weekend ruling from a federal district judge in Texas, however, likely will give employers cover not just in that district but across the country. Referring to the employee plaintiffs’ reliance on the Nuremberg Code as “reprehensible,” the court made short work of their arguments before dismissing their claims. Though this should give comfort to employers that have imposed a vaccine mandate, it does nothing to address the practical considerations that have made that a difficult decision for so many.
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