DeSantis Proposed to Make Businesses Liable for Any Harm or Death to a Worker that Results from a Mandatory Vax but Corporate Elites and Dependent Media Shut that Down, Not Part of New Florida Law

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From [HERE] and [HERE] Although Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis declared war on mandatory COVID-19 vaccination he has apparently been reigned in by puppeticians indentured to elite corporations and their Dependent Media. Two weeks ago he sought a proposal making businesses liable for any medical harm that results from a mandatory vaccination, An addendum to the 2021 law protecting businesses from coronavirus-related liability undoing those protections if businesses mandate vaccination for their employees and A measure allowing parents to collect attorney’s fees if they win a lawsuit against a school district for enacting illegal coronavirus restrictions. [MORE]

However, the new Florida law has none of the above protections for people potentially harmed or killed after being forced to take a mandatory vaccine. [MORE]

Florida Statute § 381.00317 prohibits private employers from imposing a COVID-19 vaccination mandate for employees unless the private employers also permit five different individual exemptions for employees. The exemption forms created by the State of Florida are posted here.

The Florida law’s prohibition extends to “any full-time, part-time, or contract employee.” The Florida statute fails to define “employee” or “contract employee” in its text. It is presumed that a “contract employee” means an independent contractor, but the law is unclear. The Florida law also does not reference employee applicants, so at present it appears that mandating COVID-19 vaccines for applicants remains permissible.

The five individual exemptions set forth in the new Florida law are as follows:

  • Medical reasons.

  • Religious reasons.

  • “Immunity” based on prior COVID-19 infection.

  • Agreeing to be tested regularly.

  • Agreeing to use personal protective equipment (PPE).

To qualify for an individual exemption, Florida employees must submit an exemption statement, which varies depending on the category of exemption sought.

  • A medical exemption statement must be completed by a health care professional as defined in the law. While the Florida law does not provide detailed explanations, the form provided by the State of Florida is very bare bones and simply requires the health care professional to check a box and execute the form. The Florida law also provides that pregnancy or “anticipated pregnancy” (which, at present, does not appear to have any restriction on timing) qualifies as a medical exemption.

  • A religious exemption statement must mention the employee’s sincerely held religious belief. Again, the Florida law lacks details regarding this exemption, but the form provided by the State of Florida again just requires the employee to execute a statement that mentions the employee’s sincerely held religious belief (including moral or ethical belief). The form specifically prohibits the employer from challenging the veracity of the employee’s belief.

  • An immunity exemption statement must contain “medical evidence” such as laboratory test results (no time limit on the prior infection is included at present in the Florida law). The form provided by the State of Florida requests the test date, but does not put any time limitation on how old the test can be.

  • A testing exemption statement must include a commitment to comply with “regular testing” (the form provided by the State of Florida indicates that testing cannot be more frequent than weekly). The required testing must be at no cost to the employee. There is no reference in the Florida law to whether the employee’s time incurred in getting tested must be compensated.

  • A personal protective equipment exemption statement must include the employee’s agreement to comply with the employer’s PPE requirements when around others. Again, the Florida law does not define PPE.

The Florida law provides that existing “employer COVID-19 vaccination mandates” are “invalid until the Department of Health files its emergency rules or 15 days after the effective date of this law, whichever occurs first.” [MORE]