As anticipated, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) last week issued an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) designed to implement President Biden’s September 9 directive ordering OSHA to develop an ETS requiring employers with 100 employees or more to adopt mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies or require employees to submit to weekly testing no later than January 4, 2022. By law, the duration of an OSHA ETS is for six months.
Before the ink on the new ETS was barely dry, however, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in response to a lawsuit challenging the ETS filed by BST Holdings, L.L.C., et al., issued an emergency order on November 6 temporarily staying the ETS from going into effect after finding “cause to believe that there are grave statutory and constitutional issues.” The temporary stay will remain in effect until the court considers whether to issue a formal injunction prohibiting enforcement of the ETS pending an ultimate ruling on the merits.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.