Don’t get the shot, quit your job, and get free tax money

They can’t have it both ways. Some Wisconsin lawmakers called for an early end to the federal unemployment insurance benefit, an extra $300 per week. They claimed that what they saw as lucrative benefits were keeping people from working, because some could earn as much by not working than they could punching a clock. Those federal unemployment checks have come to an end, and we haven’t seen a rush of people returning to the workforce. But now some of those same lawmakers who wanted an early end to the federal benefits because they were too generous and a disincentive to work want to provide unemployment benefits to those who quit their jobs because their  bosses require them to get a vaccination. State Senator Duey Stroebel wants to change state law to allow those who quit their jobs because they won’t get their shots to become eligible for state unemployment benefits. That seems a slippery slope. Should we also use taxpayer money to pay people who quit because they don’t like other workplace rules? What would that do to solve the labor shortage? If people don’t like rules they be vaccinated they have every right to quit. But that doesn’t mean taxpayers should have to foot the bill.