military contractor - civilian, need exemption help

[LEAW]

My dh is a contractor with several branches. He needs to go to Iraq and Afghanistan (each trip is less than 2 weeks deployed) to implement his programs and inspect/install/repair hardware. The last time he did this he was under a different branch and didn't need any vax.

He got a laundry list of vax - including anthrax and smallpox, as well as boosters to all his childhood vax - that he'll need to have before he can go.

I've finally convinced him that his opinion (or objection, or logic, or anything else) doesn't matter to the government, and the only legal leg he has to stand on is to use a religious exemption.

I know how to do this at the state level for the kids/school, but have no idea what a contractor would need.

Any advice would be so appreciated, please point me somewhere!

[Emmeline II]

Read the two documents below; for the first enter "civilian" in the document search.

http://www.vaccines.mil/documents/969r40_562.pdf
(b) Civilian employees submit religious–exemption requests to their supervisors. Such requests will be processed in
accordance with 29 CFR 1605 and component and local policies.
c. Bargaining units. Civilian personnel affected by this document

To whom it may concern;


I {First and Last name(s)______________________ am exercising my rights under the US Constitution, AR 40–562/BUMEDINST 6230.15A/AFJI 48–110/CG COMDTINST M6230.4F Immunizations and Chemoprophylaxis, and 29 CFR 1605; to receive Religious Exemption from Vaccination, due to my genuine and sincere religious beliefs which are contrary to the practices herein required.


The U.S. Supreme Court held in Frazee V. Illinois Dept. of Security, 489 U.S. 829, that a religious belief is subject to protection even though no religious group espouses such beliefs or the fact that the religious group to which the individual professes to belong may not advocate or require such belief. This ruling is also reflected in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as amended Nov. 1, 1980; Part 1605.1-Guidelines on Discrimination Because of Religion.


Sincerely,

Your signature.
Date

[2boyzmama]

Who is "requiring" the vaccines...the military branches, or his company? One thing he could do is read his contract between his company and the Government. I write those contracts (have worked for the Government as a contract negotiator and now work for a contractor as a program manager, so I've seen both sides). There is a travel clause written in the contract, that clause dictates what regulations he must adhere to when travelling. If that clause does not in any way cite or refer to regulations that require vaccinations, then they can not require it. And then he doesn't have to deal with the exemptions at all.

If his company is the one requiring it, then filing an exemption should work.

[LEAW]

The contact person he has at the Army sent him this huge stack of paperwork that had the vax and medical exams listed as part of the requirements. I honestly don't think his company cares, other than pleasing the contract/customer and getting the project functional.

Last time he went on a contract with MDA and they didn't care at all if he did any vax, though they offered them.

His brother is a DoD employee at one of the bases he will be visiting, and wasn't required to do anything other than a physical. It's all so inconsistent!

DH is required to stay inside the wire, so his actual risk of anything is very low, which is making this even more frustrating. I'm having him look into the contract terms asap.

Thanks again for the help, I'm glad to hear more.

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by LEAW

The contact person he has at the Army sent him this huge stack of paperwork that had the vax and medical exams listed as part of the requirements. I honestly don't think his company cares, other than pleasing the contract/customer and getting the project functional.

Last time he went on a contract with MDA and they didn't care at all if he did any vax, though they offered them.

His brother is a DoD employee at one of the bases he will be visiting, and wasn't required to do anything other than a physical. It's all so inconsistent!

My dh is a contractor; I agree with the pp, read his employment contract first. The government does tend to get shifty and "demand" things that are not in the contract.

[LEAW]

Ok, so it's in the contract with MDA, who has a contract with Army. The good news is that the "required" ones are "only" Hep A, Hep B, Tetanus/diphtheria, Typhoid, PPD, MMR, Polio.

The contract also stipulates that if he can't fill the requirements, his company must find a suitable person to go in his place. The problem with that? There are no "suitable" persons, nor can they get them ready fast enough, and if he were to refuse to go, it could cost him his job, though obviously they couldn't fire him over this, we live in an at-will state and it could be really ugly.

SO... does anyone know if the homeopathic vaccines will work in terms of the military accepting them? Right now he's scheduled for 8am Weds. for "medical clearance" and that'll include all the vax.

I suggested telling them he was waiting on his records to avoid Weds. but he's pretty sure the person processing all his paperwork will not let him slide through the cracks.

[Emmeline II]

The Army will not be "down" with homeopathic vaccines.

His only choices are to submit a religious exemption or vaccinate and try to mitigate the damage to his body--Dr. Sears site has info on this.

[LEAW]

Yah I figured as much. I'm going to send him to his class with 2 copies of the letter above, I'm guessing that the office staff who he deals with really have no clue if he can do a waiver or not.

If they refuse the waiver at his med exam, then he'll have to make the decision for himself to take them or refuse. I've suggested he ask them to draw titers for the ones he had as a kid, and I'll pack him a little kit with some homeopathic remedies and vitamin C and stuff if he does decide to do them.

Grrr!

[Pirogi]

Interesting question ... does a contractor claiming religious exemption from vaccination still fulfill the requirements of the contract? I am sure that the E-4 processing him through the line will say hells no, but I wonder ...

Sorry your DH is facing this!

[LEAW]

Ok so he ended up at a Blackwater facility and they failed his med exam. They were all "oh, never seen one of these before" when he gave them a religious exemption, and the doc told him he had to come home and get a medical exemption from his doc instead. Except with a medical exemption they'd still fail him, so it's a non-issue.

So they failed his exam, so he doesn't get the course certificate, and so blah blah...

Turns out this course was NOT REQUIRED for him to deploy. His trip is 10-15 days, the course is for people going longer than 17 days. IF he had not gone to the class, nobody would have flagged his medical and he could have gone w/o the vax. But because he was forced into the course by the commander, he's failed, and now they have to go retrain someone else and do all the paperwork and more.

Which is great for me, I don't really want him deployed for even a week, and now they are saying this trip is more like 5 weeks, which puts him beyond the travel dates he's willing to travel before this baby is born.

SO... if the commander hadn't been jerky about the class, he'd be on a plane tomorrow heading to Kuwait to catch milair. And the commander is kicking himself now over it. My dh tried very very kindly to explain that the class wasn't needed.

I guess the chance exists that the commander could still turn the other way when the paperwork is pushed through, since everything else is in place, but who knows what'll actually happen. My BIL is a DoS employee and wasnt' required to get any vax. Last trip dh was a DoE contractor, and didn't need the vax. This trip he's a DoD contractor, so apparently he needs them, even though he's doing exactly the same thing as last time. I guess if a DoS or DoE facility were the one processing his paperwork it'd be a non-issue but since it's the DoD medical guys, it's now an issue? Totally insane!

Pirogi - right, his company is now unable to fulfill the contract with him as the employee. They are required to find someone else. And that'll most likely be dh's immediate boss (who is less than thrilled about it). The most logical choice would be the kid who came out of the Army 2.5 yrs ago, he is pretty much still current/certified for everything, but he doesn't want to go and nobody can force him either. Oh fun!

[Pirogi]

I am glad your DH didn't have to get the shots, and that you aren't going to be without him!

Hope everything works out with his company.