With news of a recent federal vaccine mandate blocked by the Supreme Court, tire dealers are left to determine themselves the best vaccine policies for their workplace. It isn’t as easy as just deciding whether or not to mandate the shot, as employers have to think about what is best for their employee’s health and the business’ well-being altogether.
When the OHSA vaccine directive for businesses with 100 or more employees was shot down, the situation got more complicated for larger businesses as to how they deal with the virus.
Audra Fordin, the owner of Great Bear Auto Repair & Auto Body, says she has done everything to obey the law when it comes to vaccine and masking requirements in New York City. According to NYC.gov, workers in the city who perform in-person work are required to show proof they have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Workers then have 45 days to show proof of their second dose, if they first received a Pfizer or Moderna dose.
“The policies that we have [in place] follow the law, so I do whatever the law says,” said Fordin. “Otherwise, they could give you a fine, and I can’t imagine what would happen if they had to come a second time [for another offense].”
Fordin says the law has been like a “stronghold” on hers and other businesses in the area. Not only are city officials requiring vaccines, but they’re also going business to business to ensure employees working in person are wearing their masks and signs are up recommending it.
“The Department of Health is working with the buildings department and going around inspecting businesses to make sure that there’s a sign on the door that says ‘masks must be worn. And they’re giving you a ticket, a $1,000 ticket if your employees are not wearing masks,” Fordin said.
Luckily for Fordin, her employees have no issue remaining masked up and had no issue getting the vaccine as required by city ordinance – allowing her to avoid any staffing issues because of the local mandates.
“I actually did not see any pushback at all. Everybody here on their own will wanted the vaccine,” she said. “It was [all] by choice over here regardless. So, I didn’t have any issues with that.”
Jason Byerly, manager at McMahon’s Best-One Tire & Auto Care with multiple locations in the greater Fort Wayne, Indiana area, has not had the same luck with compliance with his company’s vaccine policies. Polices around vaccinations don’t exist at Best-One, especially since a few employees quit simply for being asked permission for the company to request their vaccination status.
“[That] was just as simple as asking them to sign something to ask their vaccination status,” said Byerly. “Imagine what would happen if we mandated it.”
A low amount of employees are vaccinated against COVID-19 at McMahon’s Best-One – only about 28%. Though Byerly says the business never gave employees incentives for getting the vaccine, they still allow employees up to two days paid time off to recover from the shot, if needed.
Byerly said the business never implemented any vaccine mandates or policies. While unvaccinated employees were mandated to wear masks when the vaccine rollout began, every employee is now mandated to wear a mask regardless of vaccine status.
However, unlike McMahon’s and Great Bear, one tire dealer went another route – incentivizing employees who got immunized. Belle Tire, with more than 120 locations across Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois, offered a $25 incentive early last year to all employees who decided to get vaccinated against COVID-19. All they needed to show was their vaccination card to receive the incentive, the company says.
Belle Tire currently has more than 2,300 employees across its locations in four different states. While the incentive was offered to employees who decided to get vaccinated, Belle never mandated vaccines.
Jake Burt, a partner in Burt Brothers Tire & Service in Salt Lake City, says his business also has no mandates in place requiring their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. In fact, Burt never participated in any vaccine incentives either for his employees. While some tire dealers offered money to employees who got the jab, Burt said he felt more comfortable leaving it up to employees and their families.
“You know, we really do not have any policies in place,” said Burt. “We’ve just been following the CDC guidelines on what they say. Social distancing, you know, washing your hands.
“We chose not to participate in any [vaccine incentives]. You know, we were just leaving it up to our employees, trusting their best judgment for the safety of their families,” said Burt.
As the pandemic forced many businesses to do things differently, Burt says Burt Brothers Tire & Service has benefited from these changes.
“We were sanitizing [customer’s] cars and wiping down before we got in and once we got out, just to try to do our part to leave them better than we found them,” said Burt. “I think that made the customers feel super safe, too. We [are] just trying to go above and beyond to be different, just to make [our customers] feel safe and make them feel like we were doing our part.”
Alpio Barbara, the owner of Redwood General Tire, near Silicon Valley, says that other than following state regulations, he also has no policy for employees to be vaccinated or divulge their vaccination status.
“We have 42 employees,” said Barbara. “You know, it was never, ‘Alpio wants you to go get a jab. We don’t have any Redwood General Tire vaccine policies but we have to follow the California guidelines.”
According to the California Department of Public Health, recent guidance for businesses includes requiring unvaccinated individuals to wears masks indoors (vaccinated individuals do not have to wear masks). The state also allows businesses to set their own guidelines if they wish to require masks or check vaccination status of patrons.
