A group of nurses who say they were suspended from Ascension St. Vincent for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19 told Indiana lawmakers they hope new legislation will help them get their jobs back.
Among the dozens of Hoosiers who testified Tuesday during a seven-hour legislative hearing, the nurses were among the few who supported a preliminary draft of the bill.
Republican leaders are trying to speed the legislation through the Indiana General Assembly with final votes on Monday, weeks before the 2022 legislative session is set to start in earnest. The measure would effectively force private employers that mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for employees to allow for any medical or religious exemptions—no questions asked.
The nurses said their requests for religious exemptions were denied by Ascension St. Vincent. Representatives of the hospital system did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Rochelle Rott, an intensive care unit nurse, said there is an urgency for lawmakers to fast-track restrictions for vaccine mandates because “thousands of nurses are losing their jobs.”
“What does this bill, if it passes, who does it hurt? It doesn’t hurt the unvaccinated … I am not going to give you COVID if you pass this bill. I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll save your life when you come to the hospital,” Rott said.
The bill would also put in place three administrative actions Gov. Eric Holcomb said were needed to end the statewide public health emergency order that’s been in place since March 2020.
The preliminary draft, which has not been formally filed as a bill yet, was up for a joint informational public hearing on Tuesday before both the House and Senate Rules committees. But almost all testimony centered on the sections of the bill relating to vaccine mandates.
Almost everyone who testified said the bill went too far or not far enough.
Business interests generally said the proposal would discourage employers from imposing vaccine mandates. Medical groups similarly said the vaccine mandate language discourages vaccines and pushed back against ending the public health emergency too soon.
Vaccine objectors said the proposal did not do enough across the board, some saying vaccine mandates should be banned altogether.
Tammy Smith was another St. Vincent nurse who said her religious exemption was denied.
“I hope this bill passes. Maybe I’ll get my job back,” Smith said.
The language in the current draft of the legislation would allow employers to grant exemptions if the employee provides a written statement declining the vaccine “because of a sincerely held religious belief.” And a business must allow employees to claim these exemptions “without further inquiry.”
These protections may not help suspended nurses, like the group from St. Vincent, because of the federal vaccine mandate for health care workers at facilities participating in Medicare and Medicaid, which would supersede state law. That mandate is being challenged by Indiana and several states in court at the moment.
Some of the state’s largest business associations, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, the Indy Chamber of Commerce, the Indiana Manufacturers Association, and the Indiana Restaurant and Lodging Association, all were in opposition to such restrictions on businesses mandating vaccines.
The Indiana Chamber of Commerce is against the federal vaccine mandates, and last week announced one of its top legislative priorities was to allow employers to make decisions whether to require the COVID-19 vaccine. This proposed legislation goes against that in another direction, Chamber President and CEO Kevin Brinegar said
Businesses are being “squeezed in both directions” between the federal government requiring vaccine mandates and calls for government vaccine-mandate bans.
He said these proposed measures by Indiana lawmakers do not ban vaccine mandates, but could make the decision to implement a mandate more difficult.
“It significantly discourages employers from requiring vaccinations, which, in our view, is contrary to what Indiana has been doing for months and months, spending millions of dollars to encourage people to get vaccinated,” Brinegar said.
A specific concern he and the other business organizations pointed to was a requirement in the bill draft to offer weekly testing as an alternative to not getting the vaccine, at no cost to the employee. Brinegar said that could be “incredibly expensive” for employers to cover. There was also a concern about the availability of testing to conduct it on a weekly basis.
Similarly, the state’s largest health care organizations also opposed the bill, saying it could prolong the pandemic.
Dr. Stephen Tharp with the Indiana Medical Association said “COVID is booming” and hospitals are still full with sick COVID-19 patients, and flu season is coming, too. He was concerned about ending the public health emergency too soon, and about the vaccine-mandate language shifting the state’s messaging encouraging vaccination.
“We are concerned that this legislation which seeks to disincentivize vaccinations will result in the prolongation of COVID-19,” Tharp said. “Prolonging the pandemic would be harmful to our health care system, and all parts of our society.”
Several people who also testified said the bill was a “half measure” and asked for outright bans on vaccine mandates.
Kristi Grabowski said her husband’s job is in danger because he refuses to get the vaccine, and he cannot get a religious exemption. She said he is being “discriminated against” by being asked to wear a mask and go through regular testing.
“I want to ask how my husband’s employer is qualified to determine if the level of my husband’s deeply held religious belief is sufficient,” Grabowski said.
In addition to discussion on the language in the bill, others wondered why the bill was being expedited. Legislators plan to come into session on Monday for a single day, bypassing committee votes to approve the proposed legislation with just votes on the House and Senate floor.
Brinegar said he’s never seen a legislative hearing held on a preliminary draft of a bill in the 42 legislative sessions he’s witnessed.
Democratic lawmakers also pushed back against the swift process. But Republican lawmakers defended the move, saying the matter was urgent because Hoosiers were in danger of losing their jobs.
“I’ve heard people say, ‘I’m on the chopping block. I’ve been there for 25 years,’” Rep. Matt Lehman, R-Berne, said. “This can’t wait until January. We need to take this action now.”
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People losing their jobs over this is senseless. I am glad to see our elected officials taking action to help people keep their jobs.
These nurses just need to go down the street to a health care provider that allows them the choice. Problem solved.
Friends, we all live and prosper with all sorts of “mandates,” which is another word for rules. We drive on one side of the road, we stop at red lights. Why? Because it’s safer both for us and for other people. We limit our freedom to drive all over the road or to blast through a light to live in a well-regulated–there’s that rules word again–community. When we refrain from yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater we even limit our speech for the sake of public safety.
What this misguided bill would do would be to allow anyone at anytime to make her own rules. It’s thumbing your nose at the public good, which is really for your benefit, so you are thumbing your nose at yourself. To use another nose analogy, it’s kinda like cutting off your nose to spite your face.
So refreshing to see Republicans being supportive of people’s rights to choose what they want to do with their bodies…..
“religious beliefs” seem to be holding a heck of a lot of water, historically. Americans seem pretty eager to clutch their religious pearls when they don’t like something.
Functionally, I would rather have a vaccinated healthcare professional than the alternative. For all things. Rabies. Measles. Mumps. COVID. All of them.
The path we are going down is that ALL vaccine mandates will be gone. That’s what Todd Rokita is after.
Oh, the slippery slope we are all on and most do not even realize it. The IBJ does not seem very neutral on this also.
No one should be forced to be vaccinated against COVID. People should be allowed to make informed decisions! Having said that, if you choose to not get vaccinated, you should absolutely be required to wear a mask at work and get tested at least weekly. These measures have been largely successful in slowing the transmission of COVID since the onset. No working person should have to choose between their job and a vaccination.
Nurses already go through this, they’re forced to get the flu shot or they’re fired.
What this bill does is weaken any evaluation of the exemption process that’s already in place. Go ahead and tell your employer that you don’t want to get vaccinated because of what you read in Two Corinthians. Find that chiropractor to write a note claiming a person shouldn’t get vaccinated for medical reasons. You know what your employer can do about this after this bill passes? Nothing.
Employees that don’t meet job expectations should be fired.
Republicans are nuts. And will be the death of this country.