The ruling by a Georgia federal judge does not prevent employers or businesses from enforcing vaccine mandates. Rather, the Court issued a nationwide stay of President Biden's Executive Order which required all federal contractors to be fully vaccinated by January 18, 2021.

While the Judge expressed his understanding of the dangers of this public health crisis, he, nevertheless, issued the stay because he believed the Executive Order exceeds the President's authority. The Court further reasoned that the potential harm from enforcing a vaccine mandate on federal contractors (causing many federal contractors to breach their contracts when their employees refuse to get vaccinated) outweighs the harm to public health if the contractors are not vaccinated.

As you may recall, all federal contractors now have vaccination requirements because of Executive Order 14042, as discussed in our blog here.

The Order requires that all contracts between federal contractor and subcontractor contain a clause ensuring compliance. However, the specifics of that clause were unknown until September 24, 2021, when the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (SFWTF) published guidance, which requires:

• Vaccinations of covered contractor employees, except in limited circumstances where an employee is legally entitled to an accomodation; 
• Compliance by individuals, including covered contractor employees and visitors, with the  guidance related to masking and physical distancing while in covered contractor workplaces; and 
• Designation by covered contractors of a person(s) to coordinate COVID-19 workplace safety efforts.