COVID-19 Vaccine and Employer Mandates

Can employers require their employees to be vaccinated against the coronavirus

1. In an "employment-at-will" state, almost certainly yes. The employer can compel employees to do almost anything (as long as it is legal) or be fired.
2. Except: If the employees are unionized, their collective-bargaining contract may give them the right to refuse. Unionized workforces have been on the decline for a generation, though, so from a societal perspective this isn't nearly the factor it might have been over the past 4 decades.
3. Except: Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, if vaccination is medically contraindicated for an employee, the employer is probably required to accommodate that impairment.
4. Except: If the employee has a religious objection to vaccination, that may also need to be accommodated.
5. And finally: In light of a significant minority of Americans' hostility to mandates in general and mandated vaccination in particular, most employers will probably make vaccination voluntary, rather than risk creating a controversy among the workforce. 

Worth reading:

• U.S. employers could mandate a COVID-19 vaccine, but are unlikely to do so -experts (Reuters, 12/2/2020)
• As COVID-19 Vaccine Nears, Employers Consider Making It Mandatory (NPR, 11/25/2020)
• COVID-19 VACCINES: CONSIDERATIONS FOR US EMPLOYERS (Morgan Lewis, 11/09/2020)