Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) has introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives to prevent unvaccinated federal workers and contractors from being fired if they provide proof of COVID–19 antibodies.
Newhouse, whose congressional district includes the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, announced the introduction of the Options Over Terminations Act Tuesday.
“Federal employees who have opted not to receive the vaccine because they have natural immunity developed after recovering from the virus do not deserve to be fired,” Newhouse said in a press release. “Instead of forcing our federal workforce to choose between employment and vaccination, my bill provides them with an option — a permissible, science-based exception from President [Joe] Biden’s recent Executive Order.”
The Biden administration issued executive orders in September, followed by detailed guidelines from a federal task force, which basically require most federal employees and federal contractor employees to be vaccinated by early December, save for those who qualify for limited religious and medical exemptions.
“Safe and effective alternatives to this mandate are paramount in protecting the health and safety of our workplaces and the individual liberties of our members,” Nickolas Bumpaous, assistant business manager of Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 598 and the President of the Central Washington Building Trades Council said in the Newhouse press release.
Lawsuits taking issue with some aspect of vaccine mandates have been brought or are being planned by employees of multiple DOE nuclear sites.
