OSHA Suspends Vaccine Mandate in Wake of Court’s Order

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The Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has announced the suspension of activities related to the implementation and enforcement of the so-called vaccine mandate following a November 12 decision by the Fifth Circuit.

OSHA mandate suspension

The deadline for workers of companies with over 100 employees had been Jan. 4, 2022. The agency, however, also required companies to have rules for implementation in place by Dec. 5 (a Sunday), leading many companies to set a Dec. 4 deadline for employees to agree to receive a COVID shot.

Source: https://www.osha.gov/coronavirus/ets2

This is not the end of the judicial review road for OSHA’s vaccine rule though. Challenges to the directive were filed in multiple federal circuit courts across the country. When there are multiple filings, the cases are consolidated. Ultimately, the Supreme Court may have the final word.

Further, separate from the OSHA rule, there is the other mandate governing healthcare workers. On Monday, 12 additional states filed court cases alleging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) exceeded its statutory authority in issuing COVID vaccine requirements.

Additionally, there is also the mandate for federal contractors and subcontractors.

For now, only employees of large private companies have received a reprieve.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) tweeted that “[c]ompanies should cease implementation of Biden’s OSHA vaccine” because the agency itself has suspended related activities.