Nearly 5 percent of unvaccinated adults quit their job due to opposition over vaccine mandates
As more workplaces initiate a vaccine mandate policy for employees, nearly 5% of unvaccinated workers have decided to quit their jobs in protest, a new survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation said.
The survey also found that one-quarter of workers said that their employer has a mandate vaccination, a sharp rise from the 19% who said the same answer in September.
President Joe Biden announced last month that all businesses with more than 100 employees must require all workers to receive a COVID-19 vaccine or be subject to weekly testing. The new policy — which was put into the hands of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration — is still under review but could potentially cover over two-thirds of private businesses if implemented, NBC News reported.
According to the KFF survey, one-third of vaccinated workers that are still employed said they would rather quit their job instead of adhering to the federal mandates.
“Right now only a quarter of workers say that their employer has required them to get a vaccine, so it’s still quite hypothetical for these workers who say they would leave their jobs,” said Lunna Lopes, a senior survey analyst at the Kaiser Family Foundation. She added that the results indicate “a sense of people’s attitudes” toward mandated action.
Many unions and private organizations have strongly warned the White House about the possible detrimental effects the vaccine and testing mandate could have on their businesses. The National Association of Manufacturers was among the organizations that did so.
—New York Daily News
Parkland gunman cannot rely on system failures in fight for his life, judge rules
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The judge in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting case will not allow the defense to raise failures by the school district, law enforcement or mental health providers to argue against the death penalty, a ruling some legal experts said will guarantee an appeal if the jury sends the defendant to death row.
In a three-page ruling issued Wednesday, Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer said “third-party negligence” has to be relevant in order to allow a jury to consider it.
“This court finds that evidence of third-party negligence has been determined not to be relevant to a defendant’s character,background, record or the circumstances of the offense,” the judge wrote.
Scherer’s ruling tracked closely with prosecution arguments, citing case law, that in order for such evidence to be considered,it would have to be considered the only immediate impetus for the crime, “the sole proximate cause.” As long as the defendant had other reasons for committing the crime, the negligence committed by those who failed him is irrelevant, prosecutors argued.
Attorneys at the Broward Public Defender’s Office, which represents shooter Nikolas Cruz, declined to comment, but other local defense lawyers say Scherer has all but invited an appellate court to overturn a death sentence if it is recommended by a jury.
—South Florida Sun Sentinel
Polish parliament debates law banning LGBT demonstrations
WARSAW, Poland — Poland's parliament plans to debate a bill that would ban demonstrations for the equality of non-heterosexual people on Thursday evening, in a first reading of the legislation.
The bill to amend the right of assembly was introduced by the Life and Family foundation of pro-life activist Kaja Godek,which had collected the necessary 140,000 signatures.
The amendment stipulates that, in the future, a public assembly may not have the aim to "question marriage as a relationship between a woman and a man" or to "propagate the extension of marriage to persons of the same sex."
Also, demonstrations may not promote the adoption of children by homosexual couples or a "sexual orientation other than heterosexual."
The bill is thus aimed primarily at the pride parade and other demonstrations of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community.
Ahead of the debate, hundreds of people took to the streets of Warsaw to protest against the bill.
At least 300 people gathered in front of the parliament early Thursday evening, according to the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper.
Many waved rainbow flags, while others held banners reading "Love knows no gender."
—dpa
