(Reuters) -The National Treasury Employees’ Union, which represents 150,000 federal workers, said on Thursday the government has the “legal right” to require employees to be immunized for COVID-19, suggesting it will accept the vaccine mandate President Joe Biden is expected to unveil.
“The executive order the White House is expected to release later today making vaccination a condition of employment for federal employees is a step the government, as an employer, has the legal right to take,” union President Tony Reardon said in a statement.
The union, which said it has urged the workers it represents to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, said it will work to ensure government agencies accommodate employees getting immunized in ways such as granting time off to recover from potential side effects.
(Reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Chris Reese and Jonathan Oatisand Jonathan Oatis)
