AUSTIN, Texas — A hotline for Texas workers to report violations of Gov. Greg Abbott's executive order prohibiting COVID-19 vaccine mandates by employers has received more than 1,250 emails and 280 calls in the week since it was launched.
It was launched by the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) on Dec. 8, saying that verified tips from employees who have been impacted by such vaccine mandates would be referred to authorities for prosecution.
"The federal government has sown confusion among employers and employees by issued a series of COVID-19 vaccine mandates of dubious legality," the letter from the TWC read. "But the law in Texas is clear on this point: An employer cannot impost a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on an employee who qualifies for an exemption for religious, personal or medical reasons."
The TWC said that not all of the communications received through the hotline or email address were complaints about employee vaccine mandates.
"Not all of the phone calls or emails were complaints. Some of the messages related to general vaccine questions, the status of a claim, or someone contacting TWC with other information," said in a statement to KVUE.
The commission also said it hasn't forwarded any of those potential tips to authorities for prosecution as it is in the process of reviewing all the calls and emails to determine which ones should be passed along.
Gov. Abbott issued a statement on day the hotline was launched, saying he encouraged Texans to get the vaccine but that mandates wouldn't be forced.
"We have now created a hotline for employees to report illegal vaccine mandates," Abbott tweeted on Dec. 8. "The COVID-19 vaccine will always be voluntary and never forced in Texas."
Abbott issued the executive order banning Texas entities from requiring a vaccine of anyone back in October, going directly against the federal government's plans to issue a vaccine mandate at the time.
The governor also sent a letter to the Texas House and Senate adding the topic to the third special legislative session agenda. Those bills later failed to pass, leaving the executive order in place.
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