Many Logistics Firms Are Avoiding Covid-19 Vaccine Requirements Amid U.S. Mandate Debate

The federal mandate, which is slated to go into effect Jan. 4, exempts workers who are exclusively outdoors and don’t report to a workplace where they interact with others. So it may leave out many truck drivers but not the office and warehouse workers who help move goods from factories to stores and residences.

That exemption for truckers is “still not total relief, because we have a lot of mechanics, we have a lot of warehouse folks,” J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. Chief Operating Officer Nick Hobbs said during a conference hosted by financial services firm Robert W. Baird & Co. on Tuesday. “It’s still going to cause a lot of disruption if that vaccine mandate stands.”

The Lowell, Ark.-based transportation and logistics company has been readying a software program for employees to upload their vaccination status or be notified that they must take tests weekly, Mr. Hobbs said. But J.B. Hunt is counting on a federal appeals court that has temporarily blocked the Biden administration’s mandate to do so permanently, he said. 

The American Trucking Associations, which represents large carriers, and several of its state affiliates said they filed a lawsuit at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Tuesday urging that court to block the mandate. The National Retail Federation, representing major retailers, and other business trade associations joined the suit.

The court is the one that last week issued a temporary stay blocking enforcement of the Biden administration rule.

The ATA in a statement said that it encourages workers to get vaccinated but that the rule “puts employers in an untenable position of forcing workers to choose between working and their private medical decisions.”

Freight transportation and logistics companies, which have operated throughout the pandemic, have varying programs involving masking and social distancing but generally haven’t required that employees be vaccinated.

UPS, the largest employer in the transport sector with more than half a million workers, is requiring employees returning to offices from remote work to be vaccinated. But it isn’t imposing a mandate at distribution centers and for the thousands of drivers working at facilities that have been following masking and other guidelines during the pandemic.

UPS has an internal “It’s Your Shot” campaign to stress the importance of vaccination to its employees.

Amazon, which has about one million employees in the U.S. and large numbers in its sprawling network of fulfillment centers, told warehouse staffers they could ditch their masks if they are fully vaccinated starting Nov. 2 unless federal, state or local laws say otherwise. 

The company hasn’t mandated that workers be vaccinated and allowed them to go maskless earlier this year before reviving that requirement in August as the highly transmissible Delta variant spread.

Ryder System Inc., which provides outsourced transportation and warehousing services for retailers and manufacturers, is encouraging but not requiring its workers to get vaccinated, said Frank Lopez, Ryder’s chief human resources officer, in an emailed statement. “Since the vaccines were first announced, it has been Ryder’s stated intention not to require employees to be vaccinated,” Mr. Lopez said.

The company requires staffers that work with outside companies to follow customer requirements when they work with those customers, a Ryder spokeswoman said.

Some Penske Logistics Inc. employees making deliveries to hospitals have had to be vaccinated to meet hospital mandates, but the Reading, Pa.-based logistics provider isn’t requiring its workers more generally to get vaccines, said a spokesperson. “We plan to offer employees the option to be vaccinated or to comply with weekly testing,” as outlined in the federal order, the spokesperson said in a statement.

The company is offering incentives such as AirPods, travel bags and wireless speakers to workers who get vaccinated, the spokesperson said.

Several logistics and freight companies said their attorneys are studying the nearly 500 pages of guidance released by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Nov. 4 to determine which workers may be exempt from the mandate as the rules are now written.

There are exemptions for outdoor and lone workers that may apply to thousands of employees, including truck drivers that drive solo in their cabs and don’t interact with workers as part of their runs.

Write to Lydia O’Neal at [email protected]