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Some states in the US need to ensure that Americans who quit their jobs or who are fired over COVID-19 vaccine requirements in the workplace can collect unemployment. A recent poll by Kaiser Family Foundation indicates thousands of workers across the US have rejected to comply with vaccine mandates. At least 5% of unvaccinated workers say they have selected to leave their jobs instead of accepting an employer’s directive that they get vaccinated. Point to be noted that workers who quit their job or who are dismissed after defying a company’s vaccine rule, willfully flouting its terms and conditions of employment, are ineligible for unemployment benefits. An employment attorney at Wilk Auslander, Helen Rella said, “The states administer unemployment insurance programs according to the rules that the states set, and that includes eligibility”.

Moreover, Republican-led 4 states have changed their unemployment insurance rules to protect workers who oppose vaccination requirements by ensuring that they can collect jobless aid. Florida, Iowa, Kansas, and Tennessee have each amended their laws around unemployment insurance. Rella added, “These rulings by the states in terms of administration of unemployment insurance programs are part and parcel of opposition to vaccine mandates in general”. The Governor of Iowa Kim Reynolds signed a bill in October guaranteeing unemployment benefits for those who are fired for refusing a vaccine. She said, “No Iowan should be forced to lose their job or livelihood over the COVID-19 vaccine”. However, lawmakers in Florida, Kansas, and Tennessee, later approved similar measures providing jobless aid to people who were fired or quit for refusing shots.

It is noteworthy that states have the authority to set their own unemployment laws. The Biden administration’s vaccine rule for larger companies would be enforced at the federal level by the OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) of the US Labor Department. The vice-chair of the labor and employment practice at Lewis Brisbois, attorney Alan Rupe said, “The OSHA mandate is a matter of federal law and state unemployment is a matter of state law. So when you look at red states and blue states, it is fairly clear that the red states sure want to protect those folks that feel they are ‘victimized’ by what the red states consider the unfair mandates. They have the opportunity to provide coverage for unemployment to folks who are terminated for that reason”.