Healthcare workers in Tennessee who have religious objections to the COVID-19 vaccine would be exempt from vaccination mandates if Republican-led bill moves forward in the state General Assembly and is signed into law.
State Reps. Jason Zachary (R) and Mark Cochran (R) recently introduced the bill, which would provide exemptions from COVID-19 vaccines for all healthcare workers who request medical and religious exemptions
House Bill 1867 would require an employer with a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy to grant the exemptions. The bill also would protect medical practitioners from civil liability if they choose to not get the COVID-19 vaccine.
According to Jesse Samples, executive director of the Tennessee Health Care Association, the bill would require the attorney general’s office to set up a process for the reporting of violations and action against violators. The civil penalty would be $10,000 per violation.
“What this bill says is that in the state of Tennessee, any religious exemption will be granted,” Cochran told The Daily Post Athenian. “It is a mandate and a requirement to grant that exemption and to grant the medical exemption so long as they provide proof from a medical professional that there are reasons for the exemption.”
The motivation for the bill exempting healthcare workers, he said, is his belief that whether to get vaccinated should be someone’s individual choice, according to the news outlet.
According to Zachary, the bill would provide an additional layer of protection for Tennessee’s healthcare workers who do not wish to be vaccinated, the CBS television affiliate in Knoxville reported.
The bill, first introduced in January, is scheduled to be heard today in the state House Commerce Committee. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ COVID-19 vaccine mandate rule is also set to go into effect today.
Samples told the McKnight’s Business Daily that the legislature added an amendment to the bill this week.
In the amendment, an employer would have up to 10 business days to grant or deny an exemption and must do so in writing.
“Employers are prohibited from discharging or threatening to discharge staff because a staff member has been granted an exemption,” he added. “Under the amendment, employers cannot require staff members asking for a religious exemption to provide proof of their sincerely held religious beliefs and should grant the request.”
The bill, if signed into law, would not apply retroactively, Samples said. “However, a staff member terminated prior to enactment of this law for not complying with the vaccine mandate can reapply for the old job and cannot be denied employment solely because an exemption was sought.”
Importantly, Samples said, the legislation would does not require an employer to either take or refrain from taking an action contrary to enforceable requirements previously imposed by CMS.
Samples said he expects the bill to pass early as next week in the state Senate and possibly the state House of Representatives.
Tennessee is among 16 states that asked a federal judge earlier this month to block the U.S. government from enforcing the CMS rule in their respective states before it goes into effect. The states involved They claim that not only will the mandate exacerbate workforce challenges in the healthcare industry, it does not account for changing circumstances as new variants of COVID-19 emerge.
