Congressman Clay Higgins announced Friday that he introduced a bill aimed at making it illegal to mandate employees undertake any medical procedure and get vaccinated.
The Employee Rights and Freedom Act he says would make it illegal for any employer to mandate an employee undertake any medical procedure, including a vaccine.
It seeks to exempt those employees from any mandates or requirement from such procedures because of those employee's "firmly held beliefs" and would require employers to make accommodations to those employees to continue performing their essential functions.
The bill would also allow employees to seek civil action against an employers if the said employee "is aggrieved by a violation" and accommodations are not met.
“Every American who wants a vaccine should receive it. However, the decision to get vaccinated or not is a personal and private medical decision. This bill is about individual rights. I support individual freedoms, and I certainly stand against oppression. Neither government nor private employers have the right to mandate medical procedures. We’re drawing the line here. We, the People, will not be herded like sheep into medical procedures against our will," Higgins said.
Read the bill below:
The bill come after President Joe Biden announced sweeping new pandemic requirements aimed at boosting vaccination rates for millions of federal workers and contractors.
According to the Associated Press, Federal workers will be required to sign forms attesting they’ve been vaccinated against the coronavirus or else comply with new rules on mandatory masking, weekly testing, distancing and more.
They report that state lawmakers across the U.S. have introduced more than 100 bills aiming to prohibit employers from requiring vaccination as a condition of employment, according to the National Academy for State Health Policy. At least six states have approved such bills.
A detailed look at states with legislation can be found here
The Justice Department and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have both said no federal laws prevent businesses from requiring vaccinations as a condition of employment and the federal policy would take precedent.
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