ATTENTION HOOSIERS: Workers shouldn’t be treated differently based on vaccine status

Our Stand: At-A-Glance

• A new legislative year has officially begun, and it is clear that House Bill 1001 — a bill to provide protections for Hoosiers against mandated vaccinations — is at the forefront. This is great news and shows that legislators have heard the demands of their constituents.
• While the bill shows that policymakers are serious about addressing the vaccine mandate problem, there is still room to improve upon it. The good news is that this bill stops workers from being forced into mandated Covid-19 vaccination. Any employee who wants an exemption from the vaccine can obtain one. The bad news is that this bill still allows companies to coerce and inconvenience workers who don’t comply with Covid-19 vaccination.
• Workers who say no to Covid-19 vaccination can still be treated differently in the workplace, singled out for testing, masking, quarantining and other isolating measures — despite the fact that both the vaccinated and unvaccinated can spread Covid-19.
• Ask your senator and representative to consider strengthening House Bill 1001. All employees should be able to freely choose whether or not to vaccinate. They should not be forced to disclose their vaccine status. Employers should not be able to keep records on their workers’ vaccine status. And, employees should not be treated differently in the workplace based on their vaccine choices. In other words, no worker should be discriminated against based on Covid-19 vaccination status.