WASHINGTON - Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) is not enforcing its employees into quitting over refusing the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates. HII’s decision is pushing the DoD contractor to the forefront of a battle that raises questions for other major Pentagon vendors grappling with compliance and keeping its non-compliant workforce together. Nearly 20 percent of workers resisted the vaccine at HII, which builds destroyers and amphibious ships in Pascagoula, Miss., and Virginia-class nuclear subs at Newport News, Va. In a Nov. 10 message to its i4,000 workers, CEO Mike Petters said its business segments are exempt because it was not a condition of its shipbuilding contracts. An exemption only applies in part to its Technical Solutions division. Workers who opted to retire/resign because of the mandate can request a reversal, he says. OSHA has extended the vaccine mandate from Dec. 8 to Jan. 18. HII’s apparent exemption raises questions about other defense contractors that may have similar arrangements. It may only last until a new contract or an amended contract with a clause added for the vaccine mandate, according to Dan Kelly, a government contracts lawyer with the National Defense Industrial Association. (Source: Defense News 11/21/21) Huntington Ingalls CEO: We’re not enforcing vaccine mandate (defensenews.com)
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