General Electric suspended its Covid vaccine and testing requirement on Friday after the Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration’s mandate, a company spokesperson told CNBC.
GE, which had174,000 employees at the end of 2020, has encouraged its employees to get vaccinated, the spokesperson said.
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority, in a 6-3 ruling, called the Biden administration’s requirements a “blunt instrument” that “draws no distinctions based on industry or risk of exposure to Covid-19.”
President Joe Biden, in a statement after the court’s decision, called on companies to voluntarily implement the vaccine and testing rules.
“The court has ruled that my administration cannot use the authority granted to it by Congress to require this measure,” Biden said. “But that does not stop me from using my voice as president to advocate for employers to do the right thing to protect Americans’ health and economy.”
Labor Secretary Marty Walsh has vowed to use the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s existing authority to hold businesses accountable for protecting workers against Covid.
“We urge all employers to require workers to get vaccinated or tested weekly to most effectively fight this deadly virus in the workplace,” Walsh said in a statement Thursday. “Employers are responsible for the safety of their workers on the job.”