Since the beginning of the pandemic, many employers in the United States, out of concern for the safety and health of their employees, have required employees to be vaccinated, wear masks, practice social distancing, and otherwise take steps to assure workers that their workplace is safe. Employers have been challenged, though, by inconsistent state laws and executive edicts contrary to these requirements, as well as by protests by significant numbers (if a minority) of employees who have objected to these mandates, whether on religious, medical, or political grounds.