❓WHAT HAPPENED: The Trump administration has directed federal agencies to erase employees’ COVID-19 vaccine status from their records, including noncompliance with mandates and exemption requests.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), federal agencies, and Feds For Freedom, a nonprofit representing 9,000 federal employees.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The directive is expected to be issued Friday, following a settlement announced Wednesday involving the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Feds For Freedom.
💬KEY QUOTE: “Things got out of hand during the pandemic, and federal workers were fired, punished, or sidelined for simply making a personal medical decision. That should never have happened.” – OPM Director Scott Kupor
🎯IMPACT: Federal agencies will no longer consider COVID-19 vaccine status in hiring, promotion, or disciplinary decisions, ensuring no lingering effects from prior mandates.
According to a federal government memo, the Trump administration is finalizing the removal of a Biden government-era policy by directing federal agencies to scrub employees’ COVID-19 vaccine status from their records. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is set to issue a directive instructing agencies to delete any data related to vaccine compliance, exemption requests, or noncompliance with mandates.
The guidance also prohibits agencies from considering an individual’s COVID-19 vaccine status in hiring or employment decisions. “Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we’re making sure the excesses of that era do not have lingering effects on federal workers,” OPM Director Scott Kupor stated.
The announcement follows a settlement reached Wednesday between the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the nonprofit Feds For Freedom, which sued over the Biden government’s vaccine mandate for federal workers. The group, representing 9,000 federal employees, had successfully obtained an injunction in 2022 that paused the federal vaccine mandate, which President Biden formally revoked in May 2023.
Biden’s original Executive Order, issued shortly after he took office in 2021, required federal workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Following the revocation, OPM issued guidance advising agencies to ensure that job postings no longer included compliance with the rescinded mandate as a requirement.
The new OPM memo reiterates and expands upon prior guidance, stating that federal agencies “may not use an individual’s COVID-19 vaccine status, history of noncompliance with prior COVID-19 vaccine mandates, or requests for exemptions from such mandates in any employment-related decisions, including but not limited to hiring, promotion, discipline, or termination.”
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