MPL General Counsel Corner – Biden Mandate Goes Down, SCOTUS Style

This past Thursday, the Biden vaccine mandate went down….kind of.  In typical Supreme Court style, the result was not what everyone was expecting.  The Court blocked Biden’s vaccine-or-testing rule for private businesses with 100+ employees but reinstated the administration’s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers.

So, what does that mean for you and your business?  Essentially, you as a business owner can still mandate vaccination, but the choice is up to you, with a caveat.  State and local governments can put in place vaccination requirements (check out this link from Littler for a State by State overview).

The bottom line:  I don’t see this fight as being anywhere close to being over.  Governments can go about it in different ways.  For example, look at the healthcare worker reasoning.  If you want to engage in Medicare programs as a hospital, you have to follow the Government’s rules.  If not, you are out of the program.  The same may hold true if you are a government contractor (there is still ongoing litigation).

I would not suggest you throw out your employee vaccination plans.  If anything, I would continue to review and modify them as needed with your professional advisors and leadership team.  At some point, this pandemic will move to an endemic, but right now we are still in the “eye of the storm”.

Here are some other items of interest:

• 2022 Commentary from August Wealth Advisors – thanks to Howard Greenberg for sharing
• M&A in a Pandemic Environment – A good article from Mike Wolfe at Trout CPA; check out the chart at the end of the article for some of the latest valuation multiples by industry. (I am putting this out again, the link last week may not have worked).

Helpful Coronavirus Resource Pages

• EisnerAmper Coronavirus Hub
• NFIB Small Business Resources in Response to Coronavirus
• RKL Coronavirus Resource Page
• Trout CPA Covid-19 Resources
• The Tax Warriors Covid-19 Tax Resource Center
• StambaughNess Covid-19 Resources

Please see all of our prior updates at this link or if you would like to be added to our email list, please click here.  

As always, please don’t hesitate to email myself (jsanders@mpl-law.com), Andy Miller (amiller@mpl-law.com), Christian Miller (cmiller@mpl-law.com), Erik Spurlin (espurlin@mpl-law.com) or anyone in our office with questions or comments.