Job Creators Network Filing Lawsuit Against Biden Administration Over Vaccine Mandate

Washington, DC (November 4, 2021) — Today, Job Creators Network (JCN), the nation’s leading small business advocacy organization, is filing a lawsuit today in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit against the Biden Administration to block the implementation of its vaccine mandate on small businesses. The lawsuit is being filed immediately after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) officially unveiled the mandate. JCN is filing this lawsuit together with some of its small business members—as well as an employee—represented by Boyden Gray and Associates, a law and strategy firm that includes former senior officials from the U.S. Departments of Justice and Labor.

Find out more about the lawsuit here.

Plaintiffs include:

Lawrence Transportation Company in Rochester, MN (Eric Lawrence, CEO):
Lawrence Transportation Company is a refrigerated truckload carrier located in Rochester, Minnesota that forms an important part of our country’s critical supply chain. The family-owned business that dates back decades employs more than 100 people.

Guy Chemical Company in Somerset County, PA (Guy Berkebile, President):
Guy Chemical Company is a chemical manufacturer is Somerset County, Pennsylvania that specializes in silicone products and packaging for the consumer and industrial markets. Founded in 1995, Guy Chemical employs more than 160 people, ranging from unskilled laborers to production managers, chemists, and engineers.

The Rabine Group of Companies in Illinois (Gary Rabine, Founder):
The Rabine Group of Companies consists of over a dozen separate entities in Illinois that employ more than 300 people in total. The operations focus on repairing roofs, parking lots, doors, commercial docs, and HVAC systems, as well as snow removal.

Independent Bakers Association (Nicholas Pyle, President):
The Independent Bakers Association is a national trade association that represents more than 200 independently owned wholesale bakeries and allied businesses. Many of these companies are small businesses that will be impacted by the Emergency Temporary Standard.

Pan-O-Gold Baking Company in St. Cloud, MN (Howard R. Alton III, President and CEO):
Pan-O-Gold Baking Company is a bread product producer based in St. Cloud, Minnesota that serves nine states and employs more than 1,300 people. With three state-of-the-art baking facilities, they are one of the largest fresh bread suppliers in the Midwest.

Terri Mitchell, Employee of Guy Chemical Company:
Terri Mitchell is the administrations manager at Guy Chemical. She is responsible for interviewing new employees and all aspects of hiring, along with other HR tasks such as keeping track of contracts. Terri has had the coronavirus and has tested positive for the antibodies. Because of the natural protection, she is determined not to receive the vaccine.

Alfredo Ortiz, JCN President and CEO, released the following statement: 

“The Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate is clearly illegal and will have a devastating impact on our small business community and our entire economy. JCN is suing the Administration on the grounds that OSHA does not have the authority to impose such a mandate.  Even if OSHA did have the power, there is neither the grave danger nor necessity to issue such a sweeping regulation.

“The Administration’s mandate will exacerbate the worst labor shortage in recorded history by requiring small business owners to terminate some employees who wish not to get vaccinated while also shrinking the pool of job applicants available for hiring. Associated staffing shortages will force many of them to reduce capacity and economic output. The mandate also adds a new expense for businesses in the form of the costs associated with employee vaccination status tracking and required paid time off for employee vaccination. Employers who don’t comply will face significant financial penalties.

“JCN recently shared these concerns in a meeting with the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs but our concerns went unheeded.  While other business groups are either seeking compromises with the Administration or are completely asleep at the switch, JCN is eager and willing to lead this fight on behalf of America’s 90-million-strong small business community.  We are going to court and we are determined to prevail.”

JCN is running a Times Square billboard calling on President Biden to drop the vaccine mandate. View pictures HERE and HERE.

On October 13, the Job Creators Network Foundation released its September Monthly Monitor poll of 500 small business owners. The poll’s Small Business Intelligence Quotient (SBIQ), an index tracking overall small business optimism, declined for the second month in a row to 56.3—a record series low. View more polling details and crosstabs here.  

In September, FoxBusiness.com ran Mr. Ortiz’s op-ed, Biden’s vaccine mandate for America’s businesses is outrageous big government overreach. To read it, click here.