OSHA Testing and Vaccine Mandates
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The Sixth District Court recently lifted the stay on the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for large employers and healthcare facilities.
OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) recently announced that it intends to continue to work expeditiously to issue a final standard that will protect healthcare workers from COVID-19 hazards and will do so as it also considers its broader infectious disease rulemaking. However, given that OSHA anticipates a final rule cannot be completed in a timeframe approaching the one contemplated by the OSH Act, OSHA also announced that it is withdrawing the non-recordkeeping portions of the healthcare ETS.
On January 7, in a special session of the Supreme Court, the court heard legal challenges to the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates for companies and facilities that meet the criteria for the mandate. The court also heard arguments as to whether to reimpose a stay of the ETS, which is currently scheduled to go into effect on Monday, January 10, 2022.
Lower court orders, which allowed the employer mandate and partially allowed the healthcare worker mandate, will remain in effect until then.
This mandate does not impact operations that are regulated by MSHA (Mine Safety and Health Administration).
NSSGA will be submitting comments shortly and encourages firms opposed to the ETS also submit comments. Use this link to submit your comments.
More information on the ETS can be found at these links:
- Vaccination and Testing ETS Landing Page
- Full Vaccination and Testing ETS Text
- Vaccination and Testing ETS Fact Sheet
- Vaccination and Testing ETS FAQs
Disclaimer: The above is the most accurate information at the time of this writing. COVID policies are very fluid and change rapidly.
