Legislation governing employer vaccination policy stands to create new lawsuit pathways against businesses, according to a Missouri Chamber of Commerce executive.
House Bill (HB) 1692 was approved by the House and is now advancing to Senate chambers where the Missouri Chamber of Commerce is actively working with Senators to halt the bill.
“It's just another anti-business bill on vaccinations that we're facing this legislative session,” said Kara Corches, vice president of governmental affairs with the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “This one though applies to any vaccination, not just COVID vaccination, and it says that if a business requires vaccination for their employees, they can be sued for any damages or injuries that would arise from the required vaccination. So, once again we are helping to benefit trial attorneys on the backs of small business owners.”
The bill is sponsored by Rep. Mitchell Boggs, a Republican from LaRussell.
“We're seeing a lot of Republicans sponsor anti-business legislation, which is disappointing for us to see,” Corches told the St. Louis Record. “More frivolous lawsuits are always something that the Missouri Chamber is going to fight against because it ultimately hurts our economic competitiveness as a state.”
As previously reported in the St. Louis Record, anti-vaccine mandate legislation has been advancing quickly since the legislature convened on Jan. 5. The last day of the session is May 13.
“On the floor debate on this bill, we actually had quite a few Republicans standing up against it saying that it will line the pockets of trial lawyers and put businesses out of business,” Corches said. “We also had Democrats speaking against it on the floor.”
In an effort to protect Missouri’s employers from anti-vaccine legislation, the Missouri Chamber has launched the Let Business Decide initiative.
“This is just one of dozens of bills and amendments that we have seen in the Missouri general assembly that are seeking to limit how businesses can set their workplace vaccination policies, which in our eyes is governmental overreach,” Corches added. “The bill goes against our system of work comp. Our work comp would already cover a workplace injury and so this is completely out of bounds.”