Labor Week: COVID-19 Opt-Out Measure in AR & $130M Tesla Payout for Racial Harassment

AR Lawmakers Pass COVID-19 Vaccine Opt-Out Measure:

Arkansas’ General Assembly passed a bill (HB 1977) requiring employers in the state to allow their workers to opt-out of getting vaccinated for COVID-19. The measure failed to draw the two-thirds majority vote in the Senate required to approve its emergency clause, which would have made the measure effective immediately. Ordinarily, that would have meant it wouldn’t take effect until 90 days after the legislative session’s adjournment. But lawmakers employed a procedural move that will allow them to take another vote on the effective date of the bill. (ASSOCIATED PRESS, STATE NET)

Court Orders Tesla to Pay Former Employee $130M for Racial Harassment:

A federal jury ordered Tesla Inc. to pay over $130 million in damages to a Black former employee. The jury found that the company didn’t take sufficient action to protect Owen Diaz, an elevator operator at the company’s Fremont factory in 2015 and 2016, from racial harassment. (INSURANCE JOURNAL)

-- Compiled by KOREY CLARK