Texas association warns members federal vaccine mandate may hit within a couple of weeks

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AUSTIN (KXAN) – Thousands of employees and hundreds of businesses in the Austin area are preparing for a new federal immunization mandate for businesses with 100 or more employees.

The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA) is developing the rule. There’s no specific schedule for its release, but some groups, like the Texas Restaurant Association, are encouraging members to prepare within the next few weeks.

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“Rumors are circulating that the rule will come out this Friday; We believe the rule is more likely to come out in a week or two, ”the TRA wrote in an email to members on Tuesday.

President Joe Biden announced the vaccination mandate for employees earlier this month to help contain COVID-19 cases.

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He said his job as president is to protect all Americans and this will protect vaccinated workers from unvaccinated workers.

“It’s been a tremendous challenge over the past 18 months,” said Vijay Patel of Humble Origins Hospitality Management.

He and his team own and operate several hotels in the Austin area. They handled COVID-19 shutdowns and new security protocols.

“We urgently recommend our employees to get vaccinated. It is their choice whether or not to do it, ”said Patel.

Now his more than 150-strong team is ready to fall under the federal vaccination mandate for employers.

Patel says about 70% of his employees are fully vaccinated, but he makes plans for those who aren’t, like getting COVID-19 tests for the weekly testing required and preparing for shift workers.

“We will try to place our employees in other hotels that may not have this mandate,” he said.

Although he believes more people will be vaccinated, he disagrees with the mandate – a position shared by the TRA.

A statement to KXAN said the rule will weigh on an industry already suffering from the pandemic, labor shortages and rising food costs.

“… WWe need to acknowledge the strains the new mandate is likely to place on an industry whose hard-won recovery is reversing due to a critical labor shortage, food costs rising at the fast pace of seven years, and revenue falling. To make matters worse, this announcement comes in the same month that a tax credit that is helping restaurants and other small businesses give paid vacations to employees receiving a COVID-19 vaccine is currently expiring.“

Texas Restaurant Association

“We are hotel operators, we are business people, we are – that is us. We are not government organizations that have to dictate what the free people themselves must do, ”said Patel.

The TRA also says that there are many unanswered questions such as:

• How are religious and medical exceptions handled?
• Is the limit of 100 employees calculated per company or per location?
• How does the entitlement to paid sick leave work?
• Who pays for the exam?
• How is this being tracked?

It’s all another phase of the pandemic business that Patel is now navigating the way he has for the past 18 months.

“It took a lot of tact, some stamina, a lot of resilience,” he said.

The TRA is calling on the administration and Congress to help restaurants carry out this unfunded mandate by, for example, expanding tax credit programs, investing in childcare to help people get back to work, and offering free COVID-19 tests .

It also says the Restaurant Revitalization Fund could use more cash, leaving more than 12,000 eligible Texan restaurants with no relief.

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