On Friday, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) and state Attorney General Chris Carr announced their intention to file a complaint against the Biden administration over the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors.
According to a press release from Kemp’s office, the complaint, which will be filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia (Augusta Division), “explains how the Biden Administration’s unprecedented, unlawful, and unconstitutional COVID-19 vaccination mandate for federal contractors has placed Georgia’s state agencies and elected officials, including Governor Kemp, the Georgia Department of Agriculture, and the University System of Georgia, in an untenable situation.”
“Polling shows 70 percent of unvaccinated Americans say they would quit their jobs if their company required the COVID-19 vaccine. From an employer’s perspective, 9 in 10 fear significant reductions in their workforce if they had to implement vaccine mandates. We will not allow the Biden Administration to circumvent the law or force hardworking Georgians to choose between their livelihood or this vaccine,” Kemp stated in the press release.
In a tweet announcing the complaint, Kemp wrote in part: “We won’t allow the federal gov’t to circumvent the law or force hardworking Georgians to choose between their livelihood or a vaccine.”
.@Georgia_AG & I, joined by other states, are filing a lawsuit today vs. @POTUS’s unlawful vaccine mandate.
We won’t allow the federal gov’t to circumvent the law or force hardworking Georgians to choose between their livelihood or a vaccine.
Read more: https://t.co/doAZBbj897
— Governor Brian P. Kemp (@GovKemp) October 29, 2021
Carr echoed Kemp’s sentiment, noting that the mandate “places immense burden on our state.”
Kemp and Carr are joined by several other states, including “Alabama, Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, Utah, and West Virginia,” according to the release.
On September 9, the White House issued executive orders regarding vaccination requirements for all federal workers, as well as for federal contractors. The Safer Federal Workforce Task Force later detailed: “Covered contractors must ensure that all covered contractor employees are fully vaccinated for COVID-19, unless the employee is legally entitled to an accommodation. Covered contractor employees must be fully vaccinated no later than December 8, 2021.”
As The Daily Wire reported, tech company Lumen sent out an email to employees on Tuesday stating that despite having “resisted vaccine requirements,” the company “must now comply with presidential orders to require vaccines within Lumen.”
The email added that even “work-from-home employees” who work “directly [or] indirectly with covered federal contracts” are subject to the mandate and that it is “a condition of employment.”
Numerous companies are either complying with the federal mandate or issuing mandates of their own, including General Electric, United Airlines, Tyson Foods, Walmart, and Microsoft.
Kemp’s announcement comes on the heels of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declaring on Thursday that the state will file a lawsuit over the federal contractor vaccine requirement.
“Just months ago Joe Biden was saying that it wouldn’t be appropriate or lawful for the federal government to mandate these COVID shots. … But now we have somehow gone from 15 days to slow the spread to 3 jabs to keep your job. The federal government is exceeding their power and it is important for us to take a stand because in Florida we believe these are choices based on individual circumstances,” DeSantis said, according to a press release.