Supreme Court Blocks OSHA COVID-19 Vaccinate or Test Mandate for Employers

Last week, the Supreme Court halted enforcement of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS). The ETS would have mandated employers with 100 or more employees require their employees to either get vaccinated against COVID-19 or be subject to weekly testing. The court voted 6-3 in favor of issuing a stay of the rule and thus prohibiting OSHA’s enforcement of the ETS. However, the court did rule to allow a similar regulation to proceed for the healthcare industry. The ETS is now sent back to the lower courts to decide if outstanding litigation should proceed.

In its majority opinion the court stated, “Although Congress has indisputably given OSHA the power to regulate occupational dangers, it has not given that agency the power to regulate public health more broadly. Requiring the vaccination of 84 million Americans, selected simply because they work for employers with more than 100 employees, certainly falls in the latter category.”

This is an enormous win for the industry and one that will help to foster productivity by not being burdened through onerous regulatory overreach. NRMCA continues to monitor and advocate on the issue where possible while keeping the membership up to date on its status.

Click here to review the ruling. For more information, contact Kevin Walgenbach at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org or Gary Mullings at gmullings@nrmca.org.