NORTH CAROLINA: Mandatory mask rule imminent — sign here to help stop it
Published: Feb 8, 2024
Our Stand: At-A-Glance
- The North Carolina Department of Labor has accepted a petition for a rule requiring NC employers to enforce masking and social distancing on their employees whenever the WHO, CDC, or governor declares a public health emergency. A hearing was held on January 23, where 55 people showed up to testify and only 5 of those people supported the mask and social distancing ruling.
- We have created this petition to give NC Citizens a simple way to oppose the mask/social distancing rule. With your signature and your help distributing this petition to everyone you know who opposes the mask rule, we hope to collect thousands of signatures. Please sign on to this petition now. We will hand-deliver these signatures to the Department of Labor, on March 4 to show the strong opposition from North Carolina citizens.
- Another goal for stopping the mask rule is to maximize the number of written statements – previously we encouraged our followers to write personal letters to the Department of Labor (emailed to jill.cramer@labor.nc.gov) opposing the ruling by March 4. If you are interested in submitting a statement, see our guide for help with formulating your letter. Regardless of whether you plan to submit a personal statement, please sign on to our petition.
- The next phase of our planning (while we are acquiring signatures) is to get the rule diverted to the legislature – unless the rule is dropped, we will be following the process of formally objecting to the rule and having it sent to the legislature for review.
- Together we can stop this unconstitutional petition at the NC Dept of Labor. We need a large number of signatures on the petition. Please alert your friends and neighbors asking them to participate in this petition.
Petition:
We, the undersigned, are writing to express our objection to the rules which would impose mask and social distancing mandates on North Carolina private employers and migrant housing operators whensoever the Governor, General Assembly, U.S Department of Health and Human Services, NC DHHS, World Health Organization or Centers for Disease Control designate any airborne infectious disease as a “public health emergency.”
We believe in individual rights and on guarding against government overreach (particularly when it such overreach lacks an evidentiary based justification), and we urge you to reject this proposed rule for at least the following reasons.
- Foremost, the proposed Rule exceeds your agency’s statutory authority. Nothing in the public notice articulates the legal basis for your agency’s proposed rule. The only reason given is that your agency received a rulemaking petition, which you granted.
- Another omission in your public notice and in the public health literature is any compelling evidence that masking or social distancing are proven effective at reducing the spread of viruses such as Covid 19. The silence on this point in your public notice is critical. Before imposing such significant potential costs on employers and imposing on the liberties of employees, a compelling case must be made that the efficacy of the measures mandated justify the costs.
- Further, we see nothing in the NC OSHA that authorizes your agency to effectively delegate rule implementation to the WHO or CDC. We also have significant reservations that such an imposition on North Carolinians could or should be categorically delegated to an executive agency or to the Governor. The North Carolina Constitution establishes strict separations of power. If the NC OSHA delegates this much power to the NC DOL, we believe it likely violates those constitutional barriers.
- There is an additional issue in masking that does not get enough discussion – the de-humanizing aspect of masking. “Seeing and showing the face is a fundamental aspect of human existence. A society that forgets this straightforward truth will likely also fail to realize that faceless people may make for compliant subjects but not generally for good citizens.” All of this helps to answer the blithe question so frequently posed by mask enthusiasts: what’s the big deal? It is a very big deal. Masks hide from view the familiar faces, infectious smiles, and warm glances that bring light and color to everyday life. To dismiss this loss so cavalierly is to devalue human warmth and sociability in a remarkably callous way.
- Beyond the dehumanizing nature of prolonged mask wearing, we are concerned regarding how prolonged mask wearing (hours a day) for prolonged durations (weeks/months) affects our physical health. The attached addendum hereto articles that address the demonstrated adverse health effects of mask wearing. Please take these costs into account.
The requirements that this Rule could impose would be substantial on employees and on employers and, at least in viruses that fit the profile of Covid, the cost would far exceed any benefit.
Based on the written statement submitted to the Department of Labor by Anthony J. Biller, Esq. Written by Anthony J. Biller, Esq. and Tara W. Seidel, Esq.
