(Bloomberg) — General Electric Co. and a pair of large railroads suspended their employee vaccine mandates after a judge this week halted the Biden administration’s order requiring workers at federal contractors to get inoculated.
GE “paused the implementation” of the requirement in response to the court’s action, a company representative said by email. Union Pacific Corp. and Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s BNSF Railway have similarly stopped requiring shots, though Union Pacific said it’s still encouraging its employees to get vaccinated and 73% have done so.
Read more: Biden vaccine mandate for contractors blocked nationwide
Raytheon Technologies Corp., however, said Thursday it will continue to require that employees be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. Workers must be fully inoculated by Jan. 18.
“We are focused on protecting our employees and communities, and maintaining our ability to meet our customers’ needs,” Raytheon said in an emailed statement
The Biden administration has pushed to boost vaccination rates by requiring federal contractors to ensure their workers are inoculated, a mandate that would apply to about a quarter of the U.S. workforce. The initiative, which would have taken effect Jan. 4, was challenged by a number of states that said the government was overreaching.
(Updates with Raytheon starting in third paragraph.)
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