By: Paul C. Burke
Today, a new Utah law takes effect that will prohibit many employers from taking action against employees based on COVID vaccination status. The new law may have been intended to declare an end in Utah to the COVID pandemic, but the statute may bring new headaches to some employers.
The new law does not repeal Utah Code 34-56-201, which generally permits private employers in Utah to require their employees to be COVID vaccinated. But while Utah employers may continue to have a statutory right to insist on vaccination, the new law will deprive them of recourse or remedy to enforce vaccination mandates. The new law also exposes Utah employers to potential liability and discrimination claims for enforcing a COVID vaccine requirement.
Utah House Bill 131, which was passed this year during the Legislature’s general session and which will take effect on May 3rd, states that “It is a discriminatory or prohibited employment practice for an employer, on the basis of an individual’s vaccination status or whether the individual has an immunity passport to: (a) refuse employment to an individual; (b) bar an individual from employment; or (c) discriminate against an individual in compensation or in a term, condition, or privilege of employment.”
This new prohibition comes with important exceptions. For example, the new law does not apply to childcare programs, certain healthcare facilities, businesses that are subject to external vaccination requirements, or employers that can establish a nexus between a vaccination requirement and the employee’s assigned duties and responsibilities. The supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution also means that employers subject to vaccine mandates under federal law (such as federal contractors) may also be exempt from Utah’s new statute.
As a result of Utah’s new law, some Utah employers may have COVID vaccine mandates and enforce them; other Utah employers may have vaccine mandates but may not enforce them; some Utah employers may neither have nor enforce vaccine mandates; and others may have enforceable vaccine mandates but may still find themselves accused of unlawful discrimination.
The net result is a potential pandemic headache for any Utah employer that wishes to have or is subject to a COVID vaccination mandate. We encourage all Utah employers to review and revisit their vaccine policies in order to comply with the new statute.
Read more about RQN’s Employment and Labor Law and Litigation Section.