My response was essentially, "I can do it, but we will need to explain why we are going against CDC guidelines or else I see a mass problem on our hands. Can you get that reasoning for me so I can share it?"
A few hours later, the request for the memo was rescinded. Big win in my book.
The mandates are not laws.
True, I tried to explain that to a very obtuse store owner where I live. He actually seemed stunned to know that it was not the NJ Governor's "law". I then had to explain to him that the governor does not have the power to make laws. He was skeptical. Of course our old people murdering POS governor, Murphy, is now doing his damndest to enforce masking. You know summer is coming, lots of NJ peeps make their money at the beach areas, and he just ain't having it. Most of us are looking forward to seeing him swing from an overpass on the NJ Turnpike.
We became ignorant when we started letting the television educate us and tell us what to do. Some of the stores where I am in NJ not only have the masks are mandatory signs, but also add that by wearing masks we keep everyone safe. Good God people, read a book. There is no science behind the mask mandate. Viruses are way to small to be blocked by the masks most people are wearing.
I tell them to experiment with the fart test.
Put on your mask as tight as possible, then have someone fart in their face. If they can smell it, they can get covid.
While the human race in general is prone to acting like dumb pack animals following their leader off a cliff, the NE is like a magnet for them. Of course I am not saying that about anyone here. It kind of radiates outward of that blue state that has the governor that wrote a book telling everyone how great he handled the scamdemic.
I tried the same with a guy in Utah. He seemed so scared on the other side of the counter, asking me to stay six feet away, then said "it's the law."
"It's actually an unenforceable governor's mandate!" I retorted.
Brainwashed with fear.
Yup, and ignorant to boot. The guy I talked to didn't know the difference between an actual law and a mandate.
Correct. The CDC is not a regulatory body. It can only make recommendations. They issue nonbinding guidelines.
In the defense of employers, they really do not have clear understanding of what they must do in these circumstances. I have worked with CDC and OSHA guidelines in the workplace. These guidelines are a minefield and are the source of so much confusion for many employers. The whole area of what is required by law and what is just recommendations deliberately keeps employers guessing as to what are the minimum standards of compliance that they must adhere to in the workplace. This confusion has caused many employers to spend thousands for services to bring them into compliance - or so they think. Many of these services that I have examined are a waste of money and are self serving for those entities that provide these services. They have created a niche for themselves out of the confusion - so there is no incentive for them to clear the waters.
A CDC recommendation is simply that - a recommendation. The only way an employer is mandated to follow that recommendation is if their state has taken that CDC recommendation and codified it into state law and regulation which usually is incorporated into OSHA. Bloodborne Pathogen regulations are an example.
My experience with employers is that they generally only want to do what is required by law. Trying to follow a lot of recommendations will make you crazy and broke. Employers are usually grateful when someone can give them an out. This seems to be one of those examples.
Got into it with a dumb cashier who insisted that mask wearing was a law. Even if it was, which it’s not, that’s a law made to be broken.
Exactly, given the lack of critical thinking ability, the pathetic civics/government education our schools are providing and the large numbers of people who only came to the US after they got out of school, one could tell the vast majority of people almost anything about recommendations, mandates, laws, organizations like the AMA, CDC and the WHO, the alphabet agencies, the legal system and the government and they'd believe it without question.