On Wednesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced a hotline for Texas employees to report illegal COVID-19 jab mandates.
The Republican governor stated the hotline was formed to combat the federal government’s unconstitutional mandates.
Read Governor Abbott’s press release:
Since day one, Texas has taken a stand against the federal government's unconstitutional COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
We have now created a hotline for Texas employees to report illegal vaccine mandates.
The COVID-19 vaccine will always be voluntary & never forced in Texas. pic.twitter.com/OpOIjKnuGF
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) December 9, 2021
Any employee in the state of Texas subjected to a vaccine mandate in violation of Governor Abbott's Executive Order GA-40 to report the employer to TWC by calling 800-939-6631 or emailing vaccine_job_loss@twc.texas.gov https://t.co/fWp4wK2WxY
— Julie Krusader 🕦⌛🙏✝️ Follower of Jesus (@JulieKrusader) December 10, 2021
My San Antonio explains:
Officials are also urging employees subjected to a vaccine mandate in violation of GA-40 to notify the Texas Workforce Commission by calling 800-939-6631 or emailing vaccine_job_loss@twc.texas.gov. TWC will refer verified tips to the appropriate authorities for prosecution, according to Abbott’s statement.
The hotline comes after USAA, one of San Antonio’s largest employers, announced it is requiring its employees to confirm their vaccination status, vaccinated or not. The company is asking employees to certify their vaccine status to ensure it has a good understanding of who has been vaccines by January 4, 2022.
Earlier this year, Governor Abbott issued an executive order to ban COVID-19 jab mandates from any entity in the state of Texas.
https://twitter.com/goodblackdude/status/1447705111069749249
INBOX: Governor Abbott Issues Executive Order Maintaining Prohibition Of Vaccine Mandates In Texas
— Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) August 25, 2021
However, some Texans question if Governor Abbott is all bark and no bite to protect Texans from medical tyranny and illegal mandates.
Reports indicate some companies have ignored Abbott’s executive order to enforce COVID-19 jab mandates on their employees.
Neither Greg Abbott’s executive order nor his hotline are working to stop companies from imposing vaccine mandates on Texans.
An employee of FritoLay in Plano (a division of PepsiCo) just shared this with me this morning.
We need a special session to ban vaccine mandates. pic.twitter.com/1riYYAvBOp
— Don Huffines (@DonHuffines) December 10, 2021
A caller tested Abbott’s hotline to make a report on illegal COVID-19 jab mandates in Texas.
Watch below:
Texas Scorecard called @GovAbbott’s “hotline” for employees to “report illegal vaccine mandates in Texas.” Turns out its just the regular @TXWorkforce number without so much as a menu option for COVID mandate complaints. ☎️ pic.twitter.com/lFh1sOcFm1
— Texas Scorecard (@TexasScorecard) December 9, 2021
https://twitter.com/FireAbbott/status/1468991970387320835
Lying @GregAbbott_TX caught again. Can’t even do the basics correct like keep the light on, secure the border, protect our constitutional rights, or……set up a hotline 🤦♂️ https://t.co/tbP6aoaH9C
— Texas First ⏳ (@Texan1283) December 9, 2021
A Texan tried to call Abbott’s highly touted “hotline” (which just rings the workforce commission’s unemployment #). When he pressed “3” to speak to someone, “The workforce employee had NO CLUE what I was talking about.”
— Michael Quinn Sullivan 🇺🇸 (@MQSullivan) December 9, 2021
Texans are you paying attention?
Nothing @GovAbbott does is real, it’s all political theatre.Stop buying the lies and settling for less.
Vote for actual conservative @DonHuffines #FireAbbott #HireHuffines https://t.co/JDP55t3MEm
— Brady Gray (@Brady_Gray) December 9, 2021
Texas Scorecard reported:
But despite Abbott’s characterization that he “created a hotline for employees to report illegal vaccine mandates in Texas,” the phone number connects dialers to the main number for the Texas Workforce Commission—not a dedicated hotline.
Once selecting a preferred language, a recording immediately directs those applying for unemployment benefits to press one on their keypads. For those looking to change their account PINs or addresses, press two. For questions and changes to existing claims, press three.
That’s it.
Even though the hotline was announced by Abbott on Wednesday afternoon, as of Thursday no option has been added to report a COVID vaccine mandate violation.
And talking to an operator doesn’t appear to help.
“I called it. I went ahead and used option #3 just to talk to someone,” Charlie T. commented on Facebook. “The workforce employee had NO CLUE what I was talking about. They put me on hold and never came back.”
“Hey Abbott get your Administration services under control. You are the Executive correct?” he added.
Meanwhile, the Republican Party of Texas and a growing number of GOP lawmakers are calling on Abbott to call the Legislature back for a fourth special session to pass legislation banning vaccine mandates.
Thus far, the governor has refused to do so.
It appears the public criticism may have forced Abbott’s office to update the TWC phone tree:
Looks like late last night – almost two full days after announcing the “hotline,” someone from Greg Abbott’s office got someone at TWC to update their phone tree. https://t.co/w5SDFSZmDl
— Michael Quinn Sullivan 🇺🇸 (@MQSullivan) December 10, 2021
However, the best solution to ending illegal mandates on Texans is calling the legislature for a special session to pass anti-mandate legislation.
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