4 Ways Biden’s Vaccine Mandate Will Hurt Businesses

The Biden administration recently announced that companies with over 100 employees must require COVID-19 vaccinations or weekly testing — and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration may fine businesses up to $14,000 per violation.

Corporate America immediately embraced the mandate. Business Roundtable — which lobbies on behalf of the nation’s largest companies — said that it “welcomes the Biden Administration’s continued vigilance in the fight against COVID.” Groups like the National Association of Manufacturers and the Chamber of Commerce followed suit.

Other companies — especially those outside the corporate mainstream — are not willing to force health decisions on their employees. Calling the mandate a “grotesque abuse of power,” Jeremy Boreing — co-founder and co-CEO of The Daily Wire — explained that the company has filed suit against the Biden administration.

For every business in the United States — regardless of their size and whether they resist federal overreach alongside The Daily Wire — the President’s mandate may cause severe consequences for their operations and their bottom lines.

Thousands of Dollars in Penalties

The most immediate consequence of the vaccine mandate would be hefty fines levied upon businesses.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration — which typically drafts rules meant to protect workers from toxic chemicals, rickety scaffolding, and other hazards — can be ruthless when enforcing its policies. As labor attorney Jonathan LaCour told Healthline, OSHA routinely doles out tens of thousands of dollars in fines; it has also created penalties that progressively increase for businesses failing to comply with regulations.

OSHA, however, is a relatively small agency. It employs “approximately 1,850 inspectors responsible for the health and safety of 130 million workers, employed at more than 8 million worksites around the nation — which translates to about one compliance officer for every 70,000 workers.”

In 2019, OSHA used its $558 million budget to inspect roughly 75,000 job sites. It would take well over a century for OSHA to inspect every workplace under its jurisdiction.

Just as the vaccine mandate represents uncharted territory for the Biden administration, OSHA’s small workforce may need to pioneer new enforcement techniques. One option is to create a federal registry through which companies will have to regularly report their compliance. Another is the use of state and local health offices to help with punishing resistant businesses. 

Regardless of whether or not it successfully strongarms companies into paying fines, the vaccine mandate is certain to impact both compliant and non-compliant businesses.

Worker Shortages

Biden’s vaccine requirement will

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