Tag: vaccines

All exemptions to Tennessee’s new laws against any Covid-19 mandates have been suspended. 

The new rules will not allow employers to mandate masks or proof of Covid vaccines for employees. However, many businesses complained about the proposals as they moved through a special session of the Tennessee General Assembly in October. So, legislators allowed exemptions for certain companies. 

So far, 69 Tennessee businesses and agencies have been granted exemptions to the laws. For Memphis this includes Barge Design Solutions, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, Inc., Christian Brothers University, Rhodes College, Serenity Recovery Centers, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, University of Memphis, University of Tennessee, and more. 

All of the exemptions were suspended Wednesday by Tennessee Comptroller Jason Mumpower, former Republican Majority Leader in the Tennessee House.

The move comes after a federal judge issued an injunction to stop the federal government from enforcing vaccine mandates for federal contractors in Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee. Another federal judge issued a similar nationwide injunction Tuesday barring Covid mandates on healthcare workers. Mumpower said his office could not find that going along with the new Tennessee rules, which include those exemptions, “would result in a loss of federal funding.”

“It is important to note that these exemptions may be reinstated if the injunctions are lifted, and it is legally permissible,” reads a statement from the comptroller’s office.

The office will continue, however, to take and process requests for exemptions from companies. Though, none will be granted “unless it is legally permissible.”