(Bloomberg) -- General Electric Co. is suspending implementation of the Biden administration's vaccine-or-test mandate for large employers while another industrial heavyweight, Honeywell International Inc., will stick to its policy.
The Boston-based maker of jet engines, wind turbines and medical scanners confirmed its decision Friday via email. GE is the first major company to halt its policy after the Supreme Court blocked the centerpiece of President Joe Biden's push to boost Covid-19 vaccinations.
Yet the court's ruling has had no effect on a workplace vaccination mandate at Honeywell, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based maker of automation equipment and aircraft parts said by email Friday. More than 98% of its U.S. employees covered by the requirement for large employers or a separate mandate for federal contractors are either vaccinated or have an approved exemption, it said.
“We have consistently maintained that vaccinations are the best way to protect our employees, as well as their loved ones and coworkers, since safe and effective vaccines became available early last year,” a Honeywell spokesman said.
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Vaccine rules have taken on greater significance as the surging omicron variant has roiled return-to-office plans, complicated school re-openings and caused scores of workers to call in sick. Without the federal mandate, which would have applied to employers with 100 or more workers, the choice would be left to individual companies.
The other rule that applies to federal contractors remains in limbo after it was blocked by a federal judge last month. GE, which has a number of government contracts, stopped rolling out a vaccine requirement under that measure following the December court decision.
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