States Try to Make Jobless Aid Part of Vaccine Mandate Pushback

Employers considering Covid-19 vaccine mandates might soon face one more drawback in a handful of states—the cost of unemployment benefits for workers fired for refusing the shot.

A recently filed Wisconsin bill, like similar proposals pending in the Pennsylvania and Tennessee legislatures, would make workers eligible for unemployment benefits if they lose their jobs over a Covid-19 vaccine requirement.

Those proposals, if enacted, would be a departure from the normal rules of unemployment eligibility, effectively protecting workers who refuse the vaccine—part of a broader movement of legislation and governors’ orders aimed at banning or discouraging Covid-19 vaccine mandates in public ...