Inslee expected to expand Biden's vaccine mandate for employers, trade group says
Washington employers should expect vaccine mandates to pivot from patrons at restaurants and bars to staff at businesses with 50 or more employees, officials from the Washington Hospitality Association said during a recording Wednesday of the trade group's podcast.
For the last month, industry leaders and business owners have been trying to process news of President Joe Biden's mandate that all employers with 100 or more workers will have to require staff to be vaccinated for Covid-19, or set up frequent testing for unvaccinated workers. In Washington, Gov. Jay Inslee is expected to take workplace mandates one step further.
"I think folks and members should be prepared for our state to strip out the testing option and have a strict vaccine requirement," said Julia Gorton, the hospitality association's director for state government affairs. "I think we'll also probably see them drop the employee threshold down from 100. It'll probably be closer to 50."
Early indications are that the employee count for businesses will be cumulative, as opposed to the number of staff at an individual location or branch. Specific details for both Biden and Inslee's plans are expected in the next month or two, Gorton said.
https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2021/10/06/vaccine-mandate-hospitality.html
