With coronavirus cases on the rise, the California business community is looking for direction from the state on potentially more restrictive mask and vaccine policies in workplaces.
A business coalition last week published a Sacramento Business Journal op-ed to respond to an earlier one by Dee Dee Myers, senior economic adviser to Gov. Gavin Newsom, that had called on employers across the state to implement vaccine requirements.
Prior to the Myers’ article, business leaders had met with administration officials to ask for help and assurances in response to potentially more stringent Covid vaccination requirements for both employees and customers, like ensuring employers aren’t penalized through relief on liability issues, including workplace discrimination and privacy laws.
“My perspective is that we need to see that the administration and the governor are going to move a little bit on some of these things that we've asked them, frankly, some of these are things that we've asked during the entire pandemic,” Rachel Michelin, president/CEO of the California Retailers Association (CRA), told the Northern California Record.
Michelin authored the op-ed with Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable and Rex S. Hime, CEO of the California Business Properties Association.
“Now would be a really great time for the governor himself to have a conversation with the business community,” Michelin told the Record. “We all share the same goal – the goal is to get past Covid, we all agree on that.”
The op-ed notes that businesses need tax credits or reimbursement for the higher costs of testing, along with sentencing enhancements for individuals who threaten or assault workers trying to enforce mask and vaccine mandates.
“In the op-ed and the general business community, we're looking for liability protection for our businesses when it comes to the vaccine,” Michelin said.
Big tech companies have mandated vaccines, NPR reported.
Retail and many other industries are facing a severe worker shortage, Michelin said.
“We really haven't seen some sense of assurance for some of our bigger retail employers to really make some of the decisions around how they're going to approach encouraging more vaccines for their employees and what is required,” Michelin said.
“Retailers are doing everything they can – they’re offering incentives, I know one that did a lottery for $25,000 you could win if you're vaccinated; they’re offering paid time off, doing everything they can to really try and encourage their employees to be vaccinated. But you can only go so far as an employer, and that's kind of the situation I think we're in at the moment.”