On April 25, 2022, South Carolina enacted a statute aimed at curtailing employers’ ability to require workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19. To start, the Act absolutely bans state and local governments from requiring vaccination against COVID-19 as a condition of employment, attendance, or participation.
The Act also curtails the rights of private businesses to require mandatory vaccination against COVID-19. Private employers are prohibited from requiring independent contractors and non-employee vendors to receive vaccination against COVID-19 in order to maintain the business relationship. All religious and medical exemption requests “must be honored regarding any COVID-19 vaccine or booster requirement.” Medical exemptions are expressly defined to include conditions that go far beyond the requirements of the ADA, such as “the presence of antibodies, a prior positive COVID-19 test, or pregnancy.” To claim a religious exemption, an employee need only provide “a short, plain statement attesting to the fact that a tenet of his deeply held religious convictions would be violated by receiving the COVID-19 vaccine and booster.” Finally, the Act prohibits “places of public accommodation” from discriminating against any individual “on the basis of the person’s vaccination status.” Places of public accommodation include a variety of businesses, including “any hospital, clinic, or other medical facility that provides overnight accommodations.”
The new law contains exemptions...
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