MUSCATINE, Iowa–Sat. Jan 8, Muscatine Community School District informed faculty and staff they would follow Iowa OSHA’s decision that employers with 100 or more employees would not need to follow the federal government’s mandate to require vaccinations for all employees or to receive weekly COVID-19 tests. The United States Supreme Court started hearing arguments over the mandate’s legality Jan. 7 but has not yet issued a decision.
Late Jan. 7, Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration Commissioner Rod Roberts issued a statement regarding Iowa’s state level response to the legislation. He wrote: “Iowa doesn’t have a standard requiring the Covid-19 vaccine or testing. But after closely reviewing the federal OSHA Vaccine Mandate, Iowa has determined it will not adopt the federal standard. Iowa has concluded that it is not necessary because Iowa’s existing standards are at least as effective as the federal standard change.”
In response to this ruling, Muscatine Community School District’s legal counsel, Lynch Dallas, P.C. Attorneys at Law advised them that they would need to take no further action. Attorneys Brett S. Nitzschke and Emily K. Ellingson wrote in a client update: “Based upon these developments, Iowa school districts that would have been subject to the federal mandate are not required to take any action to comply with the requirements set out in the federal mandate. This is based upon the fact that the Iowa Division of Labor has stated Iowa employers and their employees are not required to comply with the federal mandate, which means the Iowa Department of Labor will not be enforcing the mandate. Additionally, it would be highly unlikely that the federal government would have authority and jurisdiction over Iowa school districts to enforce the requirements in the federal mandate. Therefore, it is our recommendation that regardless of where your school district is in the process of complying with the federal mandate, you are not required to take any further action to comply with the requirements set out in the federal mandate.”
After receiving this advice, the District informed faculty and staff that they would follow Iowa OSHA’s guidance and take no action on the vaccine mandate at this time. Director of Human Resources Jaime Kroeger sent a message to all district employees Jan. 8 explaining the District’s decision. She outlined, “Given those recent developments, ALL Iowa school districts that would have had to enforce the federal mandate are now not required to take ANY action to comply with the requirements set out in the federal mandate. This includes the Muscatine Community School District. The policies that had been scheduled to be presented to our board of education during this coming Monday’s meeting (January 10) have been removed.”
