The enforcement of COVID-19 vaccine mandate for businesses is now suspended by U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, pending further court order.
Timeline of events: less than 2 months ago, news emerged about President Biden’s plans for large businesses (>100 employees) to have employees vaccinated for COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing. Less than 2 weeks ago, U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced January 4, 2022 as deadline to meet this requirement, labeling it as an Emergency Temporary Standard (https://publichealthdisasters.com/2021/11/12/new-us-covid-19-requirement-for-100-employees/).
Now federal court ordered OSHA to take no steps to implement or enforce the Emergency Temporary Standard until further court order (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-vaccine-mandate-osha-suspending-enforcement/). More than two dozen state attorneys general and other groups were challenging the mandate in court.
The details of Emergency Temporary Standard, in question:
By 1/4/22, companies with more than 100 employees will now be mandated to require coronavirus vaccinations for their workers or do regular testing. Unvaccinated staff will be required to wear masks starting Dec. 5 and submit weekly test results come January.
President Biden’s administration has said that it believes it is on firm legal footing and it has the authority to mandate vaccination for workers in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19.