Missouri Attorney General’s Office files lawsuit to stop federal vaccine mandate
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Missouri Attorney General's Office filed another lawsuit Friday in an effort to stop the federal vaccine mandate.
Missouri, nearly a dozen other states, and several businesses, including Holts Summit-based Doolittle Trailers Manufacturing, Inc., announced plans on Thursday to file the lawsuit against the Biden Administration.
"The federal government should not be forcing private employers to require their employees to get vaccinated or foot the cost to test those employees," said Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt.
According to the lawsuit filed Friday morning in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, the Missouri AG's Office calls the vaccine order unconstitutional.
President Joe Biden announced plans to create the federal vaccine mandate on Sept. 9. The lawsuit also argues the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) doesn't have the authority to issue the vaccine order.
OSHA released the guidelines for the federal vaccine mandate on Thursday, but they were made official Friday morning.
Private employers with more than 100 workers are required to order employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The deadline to get vaccinated under the mandate is Jan. 4, 2022.
Employees who are still unvaccinated after the deadline passes are required to get regularly tested for the virus.
According to the Missouri Attorney General's Office, there are 3,443 private businesses in Missouri with more than 100 employees. Schmitt told ABC 17 this will have a negative effect on business.
"You're gonna see businesses go out of business because they're gonna lose a number of employees," Schmitt said.
Daniel Mehan with the Missouri Chamber of Commerce said in a survey conducted by the chamber, 75% of responding businesses oppose vaccine mandates of any kind.
"We have consistently opposed what the Biden administration is doing on the vaccine mandate, just like we opposed any efforts to mandate that employers cannot require a vaccine," Mehan said.
Missouri House Minority Leader Crystal Quade told ABC 17 in a statement the lawsuit is a political move.
"This is a taxpayer-funded campaign commercial for his U.S. Senate bid masquerading as a lawsuit," Quade said. "Schmitt’s continued obstruction of those fighting the pandemic is doing tremendous damage to our state."
The Missouri Attorney General's Office also filed a lawsuit last week to stop the vaccine mandate for federal contractors with federally contracted employees.
