Late last week, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down much-anticipated opinions in a pair of legal challenges to rules issued by the federal government that generally require private sector employers to ensure that their employees are vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment.
In the first ruling, the Court blocked enforcement of the Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) last year that required employers with 100 or more employees to impose mandatory vaccinate-or-test rules. In contrast, in its second ruling, the Court allowed the separate vaccination mandate covering certain health care providers to go into effect.
Neither of these cases dealt with the government’s third vaccine mandate, i.e., the rule requiring certain federal contractors to ensure that covered employees are vaccinated. Enforcement of that rule, which was scheduled to go into effect on January 18, 2022, was suspended by the government after it was enjoined by a lower federal court.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.