A Different Approach

On January 13, 2022 the U.S. Supreme Court ordered that Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) vaccine/testing mandate be stayed (paused) and not go into effect. The OSHA vaccine/testing mandate would require all companies with 100 or more employees to either test weekly or vaccinate all employees for COVID. Initially, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had stayed OSHA’s mandate. 

On December 17, 2021, in an opinion issued late Friday night, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ended the court ordered pause on OSHA’s vaccine mandate. Previously, the Fifth Circuit had put the vaccine mandate (OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard) on hold, and all federal litigation was consolidated to the Sixth Circuit. The Sixth Circuit’s ruling last Friday means that the OSHA ETS is now poised to go into effect with mandatory compliance in January 2022.

On December 7, 2021, a federal judge in Georgia granted a request for injunction that paused the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors. Unlike an earlier case from the District of Kentucky that paused the mandate in only a few states, this recent order is applicable to the entire nation.

On November 29 and 30, 2021, respectively, federal district courts in Missouri and Louisiana blocked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers. The Courts each granted preliminary injunctions precluding implementation of the rule pending decisions on the merits.

On November 4, 2021, the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced its long-delayed emergency temporary standard (ETS) which implements the Biden Administration’s decision that private, nonhealthcare employers with more than 100 employers mandate their employees receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The final rule is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on November 5, 2021.