Arkansas legislators hear hours of testimony on employer vaccine mandates; interim study on vaccination privacy adopted

LITTLE ROCK — The Senate Judiciary Committee, meeting jointly with House and Senate insurance and commerce members, spent more than five hours Tuesday hearing testimony on employer COVID-19 vaccine mandates and related legal, medical and workforce concerns. Business representatives, legal counsel, public-health officials and dozens of employees and citizens testified before the committee adopted an interim study proposal to examine vaccination privacy and protections for employees.

The hearing opened with business testimony. Randy Zook, president and CEO of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce, told legislators the state faces an historic worker shortage and warned that bills barring employers from requiring or even asking about vaccine status would carry legal and operational risks. "This would subject those businesses to substantial fines and other penalties," Zook said, and he argued that prohibiting employers from ascertaining vaccination status could prevent compliance with Centers for Disease Control and Arkansas Department of Health guidance and strip businesses of defenses against negligence claims.

Tom Brower, senior vice president for occupational safety and health at Tyson Foods, described the company—fforts during the pandemic, saying the company had spent "hundreds of millions of dollars" to protect employees and had carried out on-site vaccination clinics and…