LATEST UPDATE: On January 13, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a stay on the vaccine mandate for private employers. An appeal against the vaccine mandates for federal contractors is currently in progress. On Thursday, December 2, 2021, Helios held a webinar for our clients and business colleagues on the Federal Vaccine Mandate: What Government Contractors Need to Know in partnership with NFP and Holland & Knight. We were fortunate to have Helios HR's Jenna Louis interview employment law specialist, Kara Ariail, Partner with Holland & Knight, to answer some of the most pressing questions on our minds today.

Up until 2020, business continuity and disaster recovery plans were mostly a matter of “what if?” What if disaster strikes? What if our team can’t come to the office? What if a large part of our team is absent at the same time?

The national Covid-19 vaccination program has stalled, with just over half of Americans now fully vaccinated. As a result, the federal government has decided to step in. In September, President Biden ordered mandatory vaccination policies that would impact federal workers, government contractors, and some private firms.

Every employee is irreplaceable, in a way. People have characteristics that make them one-of-a-kind, whether it’s their attention to detail, their empathy with customers, or their genius for communication. But when an employee is literally impossible to replace, you might run into problems.

Remote working has been a massive success in the past year. But now that the vaccine is rolling out, employers are looking at ways to ditch Zoom calls and return to the office. There’s just one problem: not everyone wants to go back. And it’s causing tension at some companies.

In a normal year, your employees’ holiday schedule wouldn’t be a big concern. You might politely ask where they’re going, but it’s not business-critical for you to discuss their travel plans.