Kemp joins other states in suing Biden administration over federal vaccine mandate
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Attorney General Chris Carr will file a lawsuit Friday over President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for federal contractors.
They will be joined by Alabama, Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, Utah and West Virginia. The lawsuit will be filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, according to a news release from Kemp’s office.
The complaint states that the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for federal contractors is unprecedented and unlawful, and places Georgia’s state agencies and elected officials in an untenable situation, according to a news release from Kemp’s office.
“We will challenge this heavy-handed directive that not only serves as a clear violation of law, but also places immense burden on our state,” Carr said in the release. “Just as we believe in protecting the physical health and well-being of our fellow Georgians, we are equally dedicated to protecting them from the unlawful actions of the federal government.”
The filing comes after Kemp indicated in a Sept. 30 press conference that he was working with the attorney general’s office to oppose a vaccine mandate against private employers.
On Sept. 9, Biden signed an executive order that required all federal contractors and subcontractors to conform to workplace COVID-19 safety protocols that include:
Vaccination of covered contractor employees, except in circumstances where employees are legally entitled to an accommodation.
Compliance by individuals with masking and social distancing guidelines while in workplaces.
Designating a person or persons to coordinate COVID-19 safety efforts at covered contractor workplaces.
According to guidance issued by the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force, the safeguards are intended to decrease the spread of the coronavirus, which would decrease worker absence, reduce labor costs and improve the efficiency of contractors and subcontractors performing work for the federal government.
The plaintiffs in the complaint will ask the court to stop the administration from enforcing the vaccine mandate on any Georgia federal contracting agency, subcontractor and employee, according to the news release.
The mandate further divides Americans, Kemp said, warning that some would quit their jobs if their company required the COVID-19 vaccine.
“From an employer’s perspective, 9 in 10 fear significant reduction in their workforce if they had to implement vaccine mandates,” he said in the release. “We will not allow the Biden Administration to circumvent the law or force hardworking Georgians to choose between their livelihood or this vaccine.”
This story was originally published October 29, 2021 at 5:30 PM.
