'Lot Of Heavy Lifting': Illegal Pete's One Of The Many Colorado Businesses Readying For New Vaccine Mandate

DENVER (CBS)- Colorado businesses are preparing themselves after the federal government has handed down a vaccination mandate. The Biden administration has handed down a vaccination mandate for employers. Companies with 100 or more employees must make sure all of their workers are vaccinated or take a weekly COVID test starting Jan. 4, 2022.

Unvaccinated workers must also wear face coverings while on the job and should you choose not to be vaccinated employers don't need to pay for your weekly testing.

Illegal Pete's restaurants in Colorado have a high vaccination rate among their employees so they won't have a lot of convincing to do come January.

"We're currently at a 95% vaccination rate," said Devin Rombough the Director of Operations for the restaurants. "We do our best to educate, but of course you know not all of our employees are ever going to read that."

Still, they -- like most businesses -- have some who are choosing not to be vaccinated. Soon they and the company may have some tough decisions to make. Devin says he hopes it doesn't cause his unvaccinated workers to leave.

"I would hate to lose employees because of that. Even if it's one employee per store," he said.

The mandate leaves it up to businesses to self-enforce. OSHA will only investigate if they receive a complaint. That means this mandate has created more work for Illegal Pete's.

"Making sure we are truly committed and doing this correctly is going to take a lot of heavy lifting on our end," said Devin.

Despite the extra work and the possibility of losing employees at a time when good help is hard to find, Devin says Illegal Pete's believes vaccination is a good thing.

"Getting vaccinated isn't just about yourself. I think it's about doing the greater good and taking care of everybody that you spend your life with," said Devin.