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The Biden administration has included a vaccine enforcement mechanism in the $3.5 trillion, 2,465-page
'Build Back Better Bill' which will enable the government to enforce fines on employers whose employees do not get the vaccine.
The mechanism,
buried on page 168 of the Democrats' 'reconciliation' spending bill, will allow
a tenfold increase in fines for businesses with 100 or more employees that 'wilfully and repeatedly,' violate a section of labor law that deals with workplace hazards, of which Covid-19 is now a part.
The increased fines on employers could go as high as $70,000 for serious infractions, and $700,000 for wilful or repeated violations -
a sum which can be applied to each instance of a violation rather than a total limit.
If enacted into law,
the fines could rapidly bankrupt companies whose employees are not vaccinated, in effect forcing businesses to comply with Biden's inoculation drive.
It comes after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published an emergency Covid-19 rule in the Federal Register this summer, which added Covid-19 to a list of possible workplace hazards for healthcare employment.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has not yet announced when the House will vote on the reconciliation bill that includes the new vaccine enforcement mechanism.
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