DEARBORN, MI — Carhartt is keeping its employee vaccine policy on the books regardless of the Supreme Court decision.
An internal email from the clothing company’s CEO Mark Valade was spread on social media. The email reads that there will be no change from the policy that went into effect Jan 4.
The federal vaccine mandate for businesses with 100 or more employees was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13. The healthcare mandate remains in place.
Private businesses can legally still implement vaccine or other COVID-19 policies.
Carhartt confirmed to MLive that the vaccination policy will be implemented for corporate, retail, manufacturing and distribution. Across the country there are 2,700 Carhartt employees.
Carhartt is headquartered in Dearborn and has 600 Michigan employees across corporate and retail sectors. The brand started in 1889 “with two sewing machines and a half-horsepower electric motor in a small Detroit loft,” according to the website.
Twitter users have started a hashtag to boycott Carhartt in response to the policy. In response the company issued the following statement:
“Carhartt made the decision to implement its own vaccine mandate as part of our long-standing commitment to workplace safety. Our recent communication to employees was to reinforce that the Supreme Court ruling does not affect the mandate we put in place.
Carhartt fully understands and respects the varying opinions on this topic, and we are aware some of our associates do not support this policy. However, we stand behind our decision because we believe vaccines are necessary to protect our workforce.”
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