Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced late Monday afternoon an executive order prohibiting compulsory COVID-19 requirements on employees. He called on the Texas Legislature to pass legislation doing the same thing.
The action comes just four days after grassroots activists and the Republican Party of Texas urged the governor to make it a priority.
“No entity in Texas can compel receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine by any individual, including an employee or a consumer, who objects to such vaccination for any reason of personal conscience, based on a religious belief, or for medical reasons, including prior recovery from COVID-19,” wrote Abbott in his order.
This policy shift marks a major tonal shift for Gov. Abbott, whose team has shied away from conversations about private-sector employer mandates on their employees.
In explaining his order, the governor stated that “the Biden Administration is now bullying many private entities into imposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates, causing workforce disruptions that threaten Texas’s continued recovery.”
AT&T, American Airlines, and Southwest Airlines are among the Texas-based companies that have announced that employees must receive one of the COVID-19 regimens or lose their jobs. Southwest Airlines had to cancel 2,000 flights over the weekend, with observers saying pilots were refusing to show up to work with the jab deadline looming.
Gov. Abbott also expanded the call of the current special session. He wants lawmakers to pass “legislation establishing that no entity in Texas can compel receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine by any individual, including an employee or a consumer, who objects to such vaccination for any reason of personal conscience, based on a religious belief, or for medical reasons, including prior recovery from COVID-19.”
