In a recent story published online by The Hill it was reported that federal government agencies are preparing to take steps against federal workers who still have not complied with the vaccine mandate set by President Joe Biden and his administration and those steps could lead to suspensions and even firings if federal workers do not comply. This includes employees at the Social Security Administration. Below is a portion of the story that explains the actions the federal government may take against unvaccinated workers.
Federal government agencies are preparing to take increasingly harsh steps against unvaccinated employees in order to implement President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal workers.
Some agencies plan to send letters warning of possible suspensions to employees who have not complied with the mandate. Many are also prepared to fire employees who don’t follow the rule, though such moves would be further down the road.
The rate of compliance is high across the federal government, and agencies say they do not expect the suspensions or firings to cause disruptions.
There are not a high number of federal workers who remain unvaccinated, but there are still thousands of federal workers who remain unvaccinated who have not presented an appropriate medical or religious exemption from the mandate. According to The Hill, the White House and the Department of Education had reached full compliance with the vaccination mandate prior to January 10, 2022, but other agencies still have not reached full compliance with the mandate, including the Social Security Administration.
The story reported that Social Security is doing pretty well with compliance. Close to 99 percent of employees have reached compliance with the mandate and close to a 92 percent vaccination rate, but that still leaves a significant number of Social Security employees who have not complied with the mandate as of yet as well as other employees throughout federal agencies.
Considering that the Biden Administration announced the mandate months ago, and has since attempted to try and educate unvaccinated employees about the safety of the vaccines, it now appears the administration is growing impatient with employees who remain unvaccinated and soon could move rather quickly with suspensions or firings. Due to the high compliance rate for most government agencies it was reported by The Hill that any suspensions or firings would not negatively impact services the federal government provides. Below is a portion of the story that explains that changes in staffing are not expected to be a major disruption. This is probably not good news for those who have failed to comply with the mandate whose jobs now appear to be in jeopardy.
Agencies have not laid out specific time frames for notifying employees of the suspensions, but experts expect them to move relatively quickly given that four months have passed since Biden announced the rule. When reached by The Hill, multiple agencies insisted they do not expect suspensions or firings due to the vaccine mandate to adversely impact critical government operations.
