Employers also worry that vaccine regulations will prevent people from returning to work in the office.

Governor Kathy Hochul Recently visited business leaders Work with her to make New Year’s resolutions so that employees will return to the office for face-to-face work after New Year’s Day. But some business groups said that as the omicron variant spreads among the population and brings uncertain health consequences, the mayor’s vaccine authorization may accelerate panic among companies and push them to maintain the status quo of working from home.

“You will see many employers raise their hands and say,’We will wait a few more months,'” said Rob Burns, president of East Midtown Partners. “This will slow down many of the returns we are looking for.”

A recent study The New York City partnership that took place before the omicron variant showed that many workers were hesitant to return to the office full-time or part-time. According to this study, only 28% of office workers in Manhattan stay in an office building on a typical working day, and less than 10% of employees work in the office only 5 days a week.

Perhaps the most illustrative of the current sentiment: The study stated that one-third of New York employers hope to rent less office space in the next five years.

Burns believes that instead of dismissing valuable employees who have not been vaccinated, companies may simply require them to continue working from home, as long as this option is allowed in the rules that the mayor is about to issue.

“For those who trust employees with vaccine resistance, this will put many people at a disadvantage,” he said. “You will see a lot of counterattack from employers and employees in the private sector.”

Others pointed out that the majority of the population in New York City has been vaccinated and that requiring full doses or additional injections is unlikely to cause huge turbulence in the private sector workforce. According to New York City data, approximately 90% of New York City adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and nearly 82% have been fully vaccinated. In addition, many companies-big and small-have implemented vaccine regulations on their own as a prerequisite for employment.

Brooklyn Running Company is a retail company with 25 employees. Its co-founder Matthew Rosetti stated that the company developed a vaccination plan for employees in September and did not encounter much resistance.

“The team did an excellent job of complying, being frank and accepting this policy,” he said. “It creates a safer, healthy and working environment for our employees and customers.”

The combination of this vaccination certificate and employment may be the type of variable de Blasio is counting on for its new employer authorization.

“This is really not a problem for the workforce in the private sector,” said Catherine Wilder, chief executive of New York City Partnership. “The population he requested is basically not a communicator, and most of them are vaccinated.”

But Wylde pointed out that it is not yet clear how the authorization will conflict with privacy and health care laws.

De Blasio seemed confident in the press conference that this authorization will stand in court. Goodman said he might be helped by the precedent set in April 2019. At that time, measles infections broke out in some urban communities. mayor Goodman said that every person aged 6 months or older in a particular zip code may be vaccinated against measles or face a $1,000 fine, adding that the New York City Charter provides for the mayor’s power to issue such orders.

Goodman said: “It boils down to the New York City Charter that empowers the city’s health departments to oversee.” “I think they might have authority. It’s inside.”

This story first appeared in our sister publication “Crane’s New York Business”.