Seyfarth Shaw just tightened its vaccine mandate. Will other firms follow? - Reuters

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The logo of law firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP in their office in Manhattan, New York City, September 8, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

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• Companies
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• New policy drops a weekly testing option for unvaccinated employees
• Seyfarth further delayed its return to office to Oct. 18

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(Reuters) - Seyfarth Shaw has toughened its vaccine mandate, dropping a provision that would allow unvaccinated employees to enter its U.S. offices provided they test negative for the virus each week.

The new policy, announced Friday, came a day after President Joe Biden unveiled sweeping rules intended to bolster the national COVID-19 vaccination rate, including a provision under which businesses with 100 or more employees must require vaccination or weekly testing.

Employment law-focused Seyfarth Shaw was already among the more than 50 major law firms that have announced some form of a vaccine mandate. With the new requirement that employees be fully vaccinated in order to come to the office, Seyfarth also said Friday it will delay its firmwide return to offices from Sept. 27 to Oct. 18 in order to accommodate those who need to get vaccinated.

A growing number of firms that had initially planned to bring workers back to the office this month have since pushed those plans to October or even November, amid the spread of infections caused by the highly contagious Delta virus variant.

Seyfarth rolled out its initial vaccine policy on Aug. 6, with managing partner Pete Miller citing vaccination as "the best way to protect each other.” It went into effect on Aug. 23. The firm declined to comment Friday on the new policy, beyond confirming that the testing option for unvaccinated employees has been eliminated.

In a speech Thursday, Biden expressed frustration with the millions of Americans who have yet to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that slightly more than 62% of eligible Americans are fully vaccinated.

"We've been patient," Biden said. "But our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us."

Kent Zimmermann, a law firm consultant with the Zeughauser Group, said Friday that he expects more firms to announce vaccine mandates or tighten previously announced mandates in the coming days.

“The Biden announcement gives firms more cover to put in place mandates for returning to the office,” he said. “They already had some cover, because a number of firms considered to be bellwethers have put those mandates in place. But the Biden announcement will cause that momentum to pick up.”

Zimmermann said he doesn’t expect law firms to adopt so-called “jab or job” policies under which unvaccinated employees may be fired. Still, law firms want to show that they are doing all they can to keep employees safe, particularly amid the competitive market for attorney talent. That talent war is also influencing how firms approach office return policies, he noted.

“Firms are doing everything they can to make people feel comfortable,” Zimmermann said. “Many have softened their return-to-office policies because they don’t want to alienate sought-after lawyers who aren’t ready to come back yet.”

Read more:

Attacking anti-vaccine movement, Biden mandates widespread COVID shots, tests

Mandates bring new role for law firms: playing vaccine cop

See you in November? Delta surge prompts law firms to rehash return plans

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