No one should ever face discrimination or retaliation in the workplace, especially for a personal medical decision that they have made.  Unfortunately, in recent months, many employees have seen their jobs threatened based on their COVID-19 vaccination status. 

Recently, we had a big win: the courts forced the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to pause any enforcement of President Biden’s unconstitutional vaccine mandate for private businesses.  That’s good news, but the bad news is that there are still businesses across the country who are violating their employees’ right to privacy by demanding to know whether or not they have gotten the vaccine. 

That’s why I’m introducing the Employee Privacy Act.  This bill will prohibit bosses from asking a worker about their vaccination status, and it will impose a $5,000 fine on any company that discriminates against an unvaccinated employee.  Under current federal law, employers generally cannot discriminate against employees based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, pregnancy, military service, bankruptcy or bad debts, genetic information, or citizenship status.  The Employee Privacy Act would add vaccine status to that list. 

It’s clear that mandates are no longer about public health, they are about control and taking away our freedoms.  I’m going to fight them with everything I’ve got.