Labor Disputes
Discrimination Charges
What else we’re watching
Professional services
Healthcare/assisted living
Private
Public
Industry
Public or private employer
Multi-plaintiff (including advocacy groups)
Class action
Individual plaintiff
Who are the plaintiffs?
Executive Orders and Federal Rulemaking
In addition to challenges to individual employer-imposed mandates, a wave of lawsuits have sought to invalidate Biden Administration efforts to increase the nation’s vaccination rate, including executive orders and agency-issued mandates. Many state and local governments also have enacted mandatory vaccination requirements, while a number of states have passed laws curtailing COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Class Action Trends
COVID-19 Workplace Law Advisor
New Executive Order Relieves Federal Contractors From Safer Federal Workforce Requirements
CDC’S COVID-19 Guidance Changes… Again
More COVID-19 insights
Agency Charges
More than 500 lawsuits have been filed challenging vaccine mandates in some fashion. These are likely just the tip of the iceberg, however, as there are thousands of such complaints lurking “beneath the surface,” in the form of agency charges and alternative avenues for resolving disputes, such as arbitration.
Discrimination Charges
One of the ways that employees are challenging employer-imposed vaccine mandates is to allege that the employer has failed to accommodate a disability or religious belief that they claim conflicts with a vaccination requirement. These complaints against private employers generally arise under Title VII of the Civil Right Act of 1964 (Title VII), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and/or attendant state laws.
Labor Disputes
Labor unions have filed a number of lawsuits challenging employer vaccine mandates, mostly against public employers. Unions have filed charges against private employers with the NLRB and initiated arbitration against employers of all types to challenge implementation of vaccination mandates and other COVID related policies.
Nationwide Injunction on COVID-19 Vaccine for Federal Contractors Applies to Vaccine Requirement Only
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster has signed into law House Bill 3126, which has implications for public and private employers that continue to require employees in South Carolina to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Jackson Lewis Named Most Active Defense Counsel for COVID-19-Related Litigation
On Friday, January 13, 2022, a New York State Supreme Court Judge for Onondaga County struck down the New York State Department of Health regulation mandating certain healthcare professionals be “fully vaccinated” against COVID-19, declaring the regulation to be “null, void, and of no effect.” (Medical Professionals for Informed Consent, et. al. v. Bassett, et al.)
Vaccine Mandates Don’t Eliminate the Duty to Bargain in Unionized Workplaces
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has issued its Order overturning the nationwide injunction issued by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia in Georgia v. Biden against the federal contractor COVID-19 vaccine mandate, but keeping the injunction in place for the plaintiff parties. Georgia, et al. v. President of the United States, et al., No. 21-14269 (11th Cir. Aug. 26, 2022).
OSHA Launches COVID-19 Inspection Initiative for Healthcare Employers
MT
OR
NV
CA
AZ
CO
SD
NE
NM
TX
LA
MO
MN
MI
WI
IL
IN
OH
AL
GA
FL
NY
PA
WV
VA
SC
TN
KS
WY
ID
UT
ND
OK
AR
IA
KY
MS
ME
AK
DE
PR
NH
VT
MA
RI
NJ
MD
CT
HI
NC
Employer Vaccine Mandate Challenges
more than 40
between 20 to 40
less than 20
Number of lawsuits filed per state
WA
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Education
Transportation
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Manufacturing
Police/fire
Click for more information
Which employers are facing lawsuits?
Vaccination mandates have brought a number of challenges: a wave of accommodation requests to manage, a slew of state and local laws to follow, and an ever-changing legal landscape for employers that are obligated to comply—or not—with a variety of federal executive orders and directives. Here, we provide an overview of the litigation resulting from these challenges, with a focus on the cases arising from vaccination requirements implemented by individual employers.
Employers are defending complaints brought by individual employees and multi-plaintiff suits ranging from two employees to hundreds (and, in many such cases, advocacy groups have joined these lawsuits—or are leading the charge). Employers are facing putative class actions and litigation by labor unions suing on behalf of union-represented employees. In a few cases, state attorneys general have filed suit against private employers pursuant to new state laws prohibiting such vaccine mandates.
In addition to the challenges to employer-imposed vaccine mandates, there has been a deluge of complaints opposing federal government mandates; mandates and restrictions imposed by state and local governments and government
bodies, including school districts; and vaccine requirements for college and university students.
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66%
21%
6%
6%
69%
31%
Where are the lawsuits filed?
Who are
the plaintiffs?
Which employers
are facing lawsuits?
What are
the claims?
What else
we're watching
More COVID-19 insights
Where are the lawsuits filed?
The map below provides a state-by-state breakdown of the number of lawsuits filed over employers’ mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies.
TOP
TOP
TOP
TOP
The information on this site was last updated 12/15/2023 and is based on civil complaints published by Courthouse News Service. It is not intended to provide an exhaustive list of COVID-19 vaccine mandate-related employment complaints.
Municipality/county
Other
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has updated its COVID-19 technical assistance, What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws, in response to the end of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Declaration, appearing to give employers permission to continue many of their COVID-19 practices and protocols. While the agency reminds employers that medical exams and inquiries must be job-related and consistent with business necessity, according to the EEOC, “the ‘business necessity’ standard allows for consideration of whether a person may have COVID-19, and thus might pose a ‘direct threat.’
Read more
Read more
Nationwide Injunction on COVID-19 Vaccine for Federal Contractors Applies to Vaccine Requirement Only
In this issue of the Class Action Trends Report, Jackson Lewis attorneys discuss the current state of COVID-19 litigation at this late stage of the global pandemic, and survey the landscape in the coming months and beyond.
Medical/pharma
State government
Other
-1%
Arts and recreation
Vaccine mandate litigation complaints
Feb
21
March
21
April
21
May
21
June
21
July
21
Aug
21
Sept
21
Oct
21
Nov
21
Dec
21
Jan
22
Feb
22
March
22
April
22
May
22
June
22
July
22
Aug
22
How many cases
are there?
What is the trajectory
of case filings?
What is the status of the litigation?
How many cases are there?
Seventy percent of COVID-19 vaccine mandate lawsuits involve challenges to employer-imposed vaccine mandates.
3,503*
Total vaccine mandate suits:
* incl. challenges to federal executive orders, state and local mandates, etc.
3,020
Employer vaccine mandate cases:
New employer mandate lawsuits continue to be filed at a steady clip, as
reflected in the graph below.
What is the trajectory of case filings?
What are the claims?
What are the claims?
Labor dispute/CBA breach
Wrongful discharge/retaliation
Religious accommodation/discrimination
Disability accommodation/discrimination
Privacy violations
Constitutional claims (against public and private employers)
Common law/contract
Other statutory
Misc.
70%
25%
53%
11%
33%
18%
3%
9%
22%
Employees are challenging employers’ vaccination mandates both on their face—contending the policy itself is unlawful—and as applied, particularly with respect to employers’ failure to grant accommodations or exemptions to the vaccination requirement. Complaints typically allege multiple legal claims. The data below show the percentage of lawsuits that assert the following types of claims:
TOP
116
TOP
TOP
TOP
TOP
Dispositive ruling/
judgment for employer
Judgment for plaintiffs
Voluntarily dismissed (including those settled)
Administratively closed/consolidated/resolved in other forum
Resolved matters
Ongoing (including pending appeals)
Resolved
12%
36%
51%
<1%
25%
75%
Employer mandate cases
Below is a snapshot of the current status of employer vaccine mandate cases tracked by Jackson Lewis attorneys. A number of actions filed in select state courts are not included.
What is the status of the litigation?
140
137
Sept
22
Oct
22
143
150
Read more
Jackson Lewis Named Most Active Defense Counsel for COVID-19-Related Litigation
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic was sudden and devastating, and even as the threat levels subside, the fallout endures. To be sure, the healthcare industry has long been on the forefront of battling the threat to public health posed by COVID-19. While there has been a broad and varied governmental response to the multitude of concerns arising out of COVID-19, a significant component of that has been the enactment and enforcement of laws and rules governing workplace safety—and nowhere more so than in healthcare facilities.
Tech/telecom
Insurance
81%
13%
4%
2%
<
1%
Read more
Vaccine Mandates Don’t Eliminate the Duty to Bargain in Unionized Workplaces
The Biden-Harris Administration has announced that, at the end of the day on May 11, 2023, it will end COVID-19 vaccination requirements for federal employees, federal contractors, and international air travelers. The COVID-19 public health emergency also will end on the same day.
Employer-imposed
Federal
State and Local
Other
What is the status of these lawsuits?
15
37
Dispositive motion granted to defendant
Settled or voluntarily dismissed
6
33
TRO granted
TRO denied
27
Prelim injunction granted
Preliminary injunction denied
140
18
Ongoing litigation
Cases on appeal
2
Class certification granted
Class certification denied
Employees are challenging employers’ vaccine mandates both on their face and as applied, particularly with respect to employers’ failure to grant exemptions to the vaccination requirement.
Vaccine Mandate Challenges by the Numbers
Read more
Jackson Lewis Named Most Active Defense Counsel for COVID-19-Related Litigation
As issues and concerns around COVID-19 unfold daily, employers must prepare to address the threat as it relates to the health and safety of their workforce. Jackson Lewis attorneys from multiple practices and industries are actively assisting businesses on the rapidly evolving COVID-19 workplace health challenge. Keep up to date with the latest available information and resources here.
Read more
Vaccine Mandates Don’t Eliminate the Duty to Bargain in Unionized Workplaces
Since March 2020, COVID-19 rules have been confusing at best. On May 12, 2023, President Biden signed an Executive Order revoking Executive Order 14042, which had required certain parties contracting with the Federal Government to follow specified COVID-19 safety protocols. Effective May 12, 2023, all prior guidance from the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force implementing the requirements of Executive Order 14042 has also been revoked
