Dive Brief:

• Vaccine mandates are not a consideration for 83% of employers responding to law firm Fisher Phillips' recent pulse survey. That figure is up from January, when the firm recorded 64% of respondents saying they would not impose a vaccine requirement. At that time, 27% of employers said they had yet to decide if they would mandate vaccinations.
• Most employers — 75% — said they are encouraging workers to get their vaccines, the May 25 survey results revealed.
• Of the employers that aren't mandating vaccines, 32% said they're making that choice to avoid running afoul of anti-discrimination laws and 54% said they believe the employees that are willing to get vaccinated have already done so.

Dive Insight:

Employers appear to be more keen on encouraging vaccines than requiring them, according to Fisher Phillips' findings. It's also apparent that, for a third of the firm's more than 600 respondents, fears of infringing on anti-discrimination laws hold them back from making a mandate.

Fisher Phillips pointed out in its analysis that there's some irony in how these findings broke down. When the results were published, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — the agency that enforces the nation's anti-discrimination legislation — had indicated that employers could require workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, but it had yet to make clear whether or how employers could incentivize vaccination.

That changed Friday, when the agency released long-awaited guidance greenlighting coronavirus vaccine requirements and incentives. The technical assistance outlined some limits, however. For instance: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act require employers to provide reasonable accommodations for workers who do not get vaccinated for COVID-19, EEOC said. And while employers got the OK to incentivize vaccines, the agency set up some limits for employers that are offering the shots.