COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates And New Jersey — Perfect Together?

NEW JERSEY — Vaccine mandates are now part of coronavirus mitigation plans for the health care industry, along with at least a few municipalities and major employers in New Jersey.

Many in the state have questions about whether their own bosses and managers can require them to be vaccinated or ask about their vaccination status. At least so far, the answer to both is yes.

But until this week, the vaccine mandate question largely remained unanswered, until a Paterson judge made what could have been the first decision in the state regarding workplace mandates.

The police union representing Wayne Township, PBA Local 136, filed a suit on behalf of "all its members," noting three police officers individually who remain unvaccinated by choice. The suit was seeking a preliminary injunction to halt the implementation of the policy, which would require all township employees to be vaccinated by Sept. 17.

From the perspective of the PBA, the vaccine mandate violated the civil rights of the police officers the union represents, and put them at risk of losing out on life insurance benefits if they were to die due to complications related to the vaccine. They also challenged whether the mandate could be implemented since it wasn't collectively bargained with the union.

Judge Ernest M. Caposela denied the request, stating that the mandate didn’t violate any civil rights or constitutional guarantees, but also that the policy is "justified in that it is proper exercise of the police power to protect the general public welfare."

While a precedent may have been set in Passaic County, public health experts expect to see more cases like this challenge mandates across the state and country.

Still, Brenda Seals, an associate professor and public health department chair at The College of New Jersey, told Patch the judge’s decision could have been expected, given that colleges and universities have already instituted vaccine mandates.

“The courts have been pretty consistent about allowing colleges and universities to require vaccination,” she said.

Seals added that because colleges already collect data for what could be known as “childhood vaccinations” against the measles and mumps, for example, “it seems to be consistent with other public safety regulations” that are long-established.

Rutgers University was the first in the state to mandate vaccinations for students; and despite protests and some pushback from Republican legislators and students, the mandate still stands. Many other colleges and universities in the state have followed suit, with only a few exceptions. Read more: New Jersey Colleges Requiring COVID-19 Vaccine: See The List

Most recently, Amy Coney Barrett became the first Supreme Court Justice to weigh in on the issue, striking down a challenge that would have stopped Indiana University from issuing a mandate.

Gov. Phil Murphy has also instituted a mandate for health care employees to be vaccinated, and gave those health care facilities, and other high-risk congregate settings, until Sept. 7 to have a system to do so in place.

Some pushback has come from those citing personal choice about being vaccinated. To that end, Seals draws a comparison to other familiar statutes aimed at bettering public health.

“In some respects, the public safety laws are no different than laws about driving or laws about smoking indoors,” said Seals. “When you’re in a position to put somebody else’s health at risk, then it’s no longer just a decision of the individual.”

Other points of contention had been brought up to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which offered clarification on how the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) apply when an employer seeks to learn the vaccination status of employees. The ADA is also used as part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA), Seals noted.

“Federal EEO laws do not prevent an employer from requiring all employees physically entering the workplace to be vaccinated for COVID-19, so long as employers comply with the reasonable accommodation provisions of the ADA and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other EEO considerations,” the guidance read.

Essentially, the EEOC said because the organization isn’t outing an employee for a disability status, employers are, by law, allowed to ask for vaccination status.

“You could be not vaccinated for religious purposes versus currently undergoing chemotherapy where you can’t be vaccinated,” Seals said. “So because you’re not revealing a disability related health status, it is not a violation at this point in time.”

So as it currently stands, yes, your employer can mandate that you be vaccinated to work there. And yes, as it currently stands, they are legally allowed to ask about your vaccination status in New Jersey.

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