Businesses ask White House to delay Biden Covid vaccine mandate until

Worried that President Joe Biden’s Covid vaccine mandate for private companies could cause a mass exodus of employees, business groups are pleading with the White House to delay the rule until after the holiday season.

White House officials at the Office of Management and Budget held dozens of meetings with labor unions, industry lobbyists and private individuals last week as the administration conducts its final review of the mandate, which will require businesses with 100 or more employees to ensure they are vaccinated against Covid or tested weekly for the virus. It is estimated to cover roughly two-thirds of the private-sector workforce.

OMB officials have several meetings lined up Monday and Tuesday with groups representing dentists, trucking companies, staffing companies and realtors, among others.

Retailers are particularly concerned the mandate could trigger a spike in resignations that would exacerbate staffing problems at businesses already short on people, said Evan Armstrong, a lobbyist at the Retail Industry Leaders Association.

“It has been a hectic holiday season already, as you know, with supply chain struggles,” Armstrong told CNBC after meeting the White House last Monday. “This is a difficult policy to implement. It would be even more difficult during the holiday season.”

Thirty percent of workers said they would leave their jobs rather than comply with a vaccine or testing mandate, according to a KFF poll published last month. Goldman Sachs, in an analysis published in September, said the mandate could hurt the already tight labor market. However, it said survey responses are often exaggerated and not as many people will actually quit.

The Occupation Safety and Health Administration delivered its final rule to OMB on Oct. 12, and the mandate is expected to take effect soon after the agency completes its review.

The National Retail Federation and the retail leaders group asked White House officials in meetings last week to give businesses 90 days to comply with the mandate — delaying the effective date to late January at the earliest, lobbyists said.

The Business Roundtable told CNBC it supports the White House’s vaccination efforts, but the administration “should allow the time necessary for employers to comply, and that includes taking into account employee retention issues, supply chain challenges and the upcoming holiday season.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which met with OMB on Oct. 15, also asked the administration to delay implementing the rule until after the holiday season. Officials at OMB declined to comment.

However, former officials at OSHA, which will enforce the mandate, told CNBC that businesses will likely have some time to implement the rules.

Jordan Barab, deputy assistant secretary of OSHA during the Obama…