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Coronavirus

Jobs Creators Network and other plaintiffs call on Supreme Court to halt Biden vaccine mandate

"I love my job... but would rather lose my position than comply with an illegal rule pushed by the Biden administration," one employee said

January 6, 2022 6:15pm

Updated: January 7, 2022 9:13am

Jobs Creators Network and businesses across the country will plead their case on Friday to the Supreme Court against President Joe Biden's business vaccine mandate, which one plaintiff calls a "sucker punch" to small businesses.

"The Supreme Court can defend small businesses nationwide by following precedent and immediately staying the Biden Administration’s employer vaccine mandate," said President and CEO of the Job Creators Network (JCN) Alfredo Ortiz in an email obtained by Just the News. The JCN describes itself as "the nation’s leading small business advocacy organization," and is a plaintiff in the lawsuit. 

"This unprecedented government overreach would impose new costs on businesses at the worst possible time and exacerbate the labor shortage and supply chain crisis," Ortiz said.

Two cases were filed in response to the Biden administration's ruling that requires private businesses with more than 100 people to force their employees to be vaccinated or submit to rigorous testing mandates. The lawsuits – National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Ohio v. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration – were combined by the Supreme Court. The ruling will affect 84 million American workers.

Plaintiff Eric Lawrence, CEO of Lawrence Transportation Company in Rochester, Minn., argues that the court's decision will affect the supply chain. “My transportation company is already facing historic labor shortages and struggling to hire enough commercial truck drivers and technicians to keep our fleet on the road," he said. "If the vaccine mandate is implemented, I stand to lose another 10 to 15 percent of my employees. That nightmare scenario is what’s at stake with this Supreme Court decision."

Pan-O-Gold Baking Company President and CEO Howard Alton said: "The lingering coronavirus poses a real concern, but doesn’t warrant unconstitutional government overreach that will sucker punch small businesses. We are the heartbeat of the American economy and cutting us off at the knees is not what the country needs as it recovers from a now two-year long pandemic."

Terri Mitchell, an employee of plaintiff Guy Chemical Company, said natural immunity should count. "Because of natural protection—considering I both contracted the coronavirus and tested positive for the antibodies—I am determined not to receive the vaccine or subject myself to the indignity of involuntary weekly testing.

"I love my job at Guy Chemical but would rather lose my position than comply with an illegal rule pushed by the Biden administration," Mitchell said. "I pray the Supreme Court reverses this overreach by the federal government."

More than 180 Republican senators and representatives wrote an amicus brief on Tuesday in support of the plaintiffs.