Jeff Jackson runs one of Sarasota County's largest companies, and while he plans to comply with a sweeping mandate that will require all companies with more than 100 employees to have them vaccinated or mandate weekly tests proving employees do not have COVID-19, he doesn't appear happy about it.

"We will not require our team members to be vaccinated to work at PGT Innovations," Jackson said in a written statement to the Herald-Tribune. "We will encourage and make it as easy as possible for our team members to get vaccinated, but we will not require it."

"We feel this mandate imposes arbitrary, unnecessary, and onerous terms on all companies and their employees. For example, the 100-employee threshold appears unsubstantiated because, as we all know, COVID can affect everyone regardless of company size."

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Jackson said in his statement that PGT, which manufactures windows and employs well over 2,000 people in its Venice headquarters, expects the mandate to cost the company millions of dollars each year it is in effect.

"We have, however, always complied with OSHA’s guidelines and we will continue to do so," he said. "This extra burden is expected to cost our company millions of dollars annually.”

Already PGT has taken several steps throughout the pandemic to protect workers, Jackson said.

"Since the start of this pandemic, our leadership team has continually implemented solutions that allowed our team members to work in a safe environment," he said. "These solutions include: installing thermal cameras, extra sanitation of all our facilities, on-site Covid testing, free vaccinations, and paid leave when testing or diagnosed with COVID."

President Joe Biden announced the private employer vaccine mandate in September, but on Thursday the official rule that the Occupational Health and Safety Administration will use to enforce the mandate became public.

That rule will go into effect on Jan. 4 for all employers that have more than 100 employees and will require employees to be vaccinated or to test negative for the deadly virus that causes COVID.

The government has argued that the mandate is needed to combat a virus that continues spreading, most lethally through the unvaccinated population. The American Medical Association has backed "greater and stronger use of vaccine mandates by public and private sector employers and other organizations for the populations," noting that "major companies such as Walt Disney, Walmart, McDonald’s, Walgreens, Twitter, Facebook and Google have already expressed to their employees that they must get fully vaccinated against COVID-19."

The AMA contends that the vaccines have proven safe and mandates are appropriate because "this is something that affects everyone’s health and safety, not just your own."

Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced a special session for the Florida Legislature that will start Nov. 15.

Bills have not emerged for the special session, which will start Nov. 15. But DeSantis’ formal proclamation calling the session requested such things as legislation to protect “current and prospective employees against unfair discrimination” on the basis of their vaccination status; legislation to ensure that people who are denied jobs because of their vaccination status are eligible for unemployment compensation; and legislation to ensure that any people injured by work-related COVID-19 vaccinations are covered by workers’ compensation insurance, according to the News Service of Florida.

At least one other Sarasota businessman also appeared displeased with vaccine mandates for large companies.

Jesse Biter, prominent GOP donor and Sarasota business owner, called the vaccine mandate "totally illegal" when it was announced in September. Biter's company, PropLogix, facilitates real estate transactions and employees more than 400 people.

"The good news is that our employees are working from home and per the FAQs on OSHA's website our employees will not be required to test," he said in a text message on Thursday afternoon. "Further, we have 38 open positions for anyone who doesn't want to deal with the Federal overreach."

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: PGT Innovations CEO Jeff Jackson expects vaccine mandate to cost millions.