Insights: Alerts Supreme Court Blocks OSHA ETS Vaccine-or-Test Mandate for Large Private Employers
Please note: The below information may require updating, including additional clarification, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to develop. Please monitor our main COVID-19 Resource Center page and/or your email for updates.
In a 6-3 split decision, the Supreme Court granted an immediate stay of the OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”) that requires large private employers to either mandate vaccination or regular COVID-19 testing of its workforce. Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan co-signed a dissenting opinion. The ETS is now stayed pending the ultimate disposition of the mandate on the merits (currently pending in the Sixth Circuit), which means that OSHA is not allowed to enforce the ETS at this time.
In the unsigned per curiam decision, the Court granted a stay of the ETS upon finding that the challengers of the ETS were likely to succeed on the merits of their claim. The Court elaborated that the Secretary of Labor “lacked authority to impose the mandate,” calling the ETS a “public health regulation.” It also disagreed with OSHA’s view that COVID-19 is an occupational hazard in most workplaces and likened it instead to a “day-to-day danger” similar to “crime, air pollution, or any number of communicable diseases.”
For employers, the Supreme Court’s opinion means that the January 10 and February 9 compliance deadlines of the ETS are no longer in effect.
Related People
Disclaimer
While we are pleased to have you contact us by telephone, surface mail, electronic mail, or by facsimile transmission, contacting Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP or any of its attorneys does not create an attorney-client relationship. The formation of an attorney-client relationship requires consideration of multiple factors, including possible conflicts of interest. An attorney-client relationship is formed only when both you and the Firm have agreed to proceed with a defined engagement.
DO NOT CONVEY TO US ANY INFORMATION YOU REGARD AS CONFIDENTIAL UNTIL A FORMAL CLIENT-ATTORNEY RELATIONSHIP HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED.
If you do convey information, you recognize that we may review and disclose the information, and you agree that even if you regard the information as highly confidential and even if it is transmitted in a good faith effort to retain us, such a review does not preclude us from representing another client directly adverse to you, even in a matter where that information could be used against you.
