Insights

OSHA Ordered to “Take No Steps to Implement or Enforce the Mandate"

Employment Law, OSHA, Vaccination Requirements

November 13, 2021 / Andrea Johnson

OSHA Ordered to “Take No Steps to Implement or Enforce the Mandate.^"1 Fifth Circuit Stay of Vaccine-Mandate ETS Continues through Court’s Temporary Injunction Issued 11/12/2021. OSHA Rule Denigrated as “One-Size-Fits-All Sledgehammer.”²

On Friday, November 12, 2021, the Fifth Circuit entered its temporary injunction against the “Mandate” also referred to as the “emergency rule” or “ETS.”  This swift shut down of both the rule and its enforcement by OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration), followed the appellate court’s original emergency stay, entered less than one week ago, on November 6, which came just one day after the official issuance of the OSHA rule.  

A New World: 5th Circuit Stays OSHA COVID-Vaccination Mandate ETS, Affecting Employers with 100-plus Employees - Court Finds "Grave Statutory and Constitutional Issues with the Mandate."

Employment Law

November 7, 2021 / Andrea Johnson

Scarcely two days after OSHA had issued its emergency rule or "ETS" mandating COVID vaccinations in the workplace, the Fifth Circuit on November 6, 2021, granted an emergency stay of the entire rule - stopping in its tracks the federal government (OSHA), from proceeding with a very lengthy rule and, some contended, a rather oppressive mandate, all fashioned through the auspices of OSHA. The just-inked ETS mandated that employers with 100 or more employees had to act as the government's COVID vaccination enforcers so that their employees were either fully vaccinated against COVID or tested, at least, weekly, if an employee was unvaccinated, to ensure that he/she was not COVID-positive. At this point, the entire OSHA rule is suspended while the courts consider the matter further. The Fifth Circuit decision is linked here.