In response to a nationwide preliminary injunction issued last week by a federal court in Georgia blocking enforcement of the Biden Administration’s federal contractor vaccine mandate, the White House Office of Management Budget (OMB) has announced that “the Government will take no action to enforce the [contract] clause implementing requirements of Executive Order 14042.” E.O. 14042 is the executive order issued by President Biden in September that imposed the mandate.
Formal suspension of E.O. 14042 enforcement, which was announced on the Safer Federal Workforce website, is limited to places of performance “in a U.S. state or outlying area subject to a court order prohibiting the application of requirements pursuant to the Executive Order,” in other words, nationwide. According to OMB, E.O. 14042 will be enforced “in all other circumstances,” though at this time it’s not immediately clear as to what “circumstances” OMB is referring. Regardless, the practical effect of the suspension is that government contractors covered by E.O. 14042, at least for now, are under no obligation to comply with the contractor vaccine mandate.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.