Vaccine Mandate

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Our Blog has been monitoring the ETS that OSHA issued in November 2021 that mandated employers of 100 or more employees to require their employees to obtain COVID-19 vaccinations or undergo regular COVID-19 testing instead.  We have kept you informed as this ETS made its way through the courts.  First, implementation of the ETS was stayed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (see blog on 11/18/2021), then the stay was lifted by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals (see blog on 12/20/2021), and finally, argument was held before the U.S. Supreme Court, which ordered that the stay be put back in place after a majority of the Court found that OSHA had exceeded its authority in issuing the ETS (see blog on 12/23/2021 and blog on 1/13/2022). (Please note the Court let stand the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate for certain healthcare workers.)
Continue Reading Federal OSHA Withdraws COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard

As Lizbeth West and James Kachmar wrote in previous blogs, here and here, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the stay of OSHA’s vaccine-or-test mandate that applies to employers with more than 100 employees. Challengers of the mandate sought immediate review by the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court held oral arguments in the matter on an expedited basis on January 7, 2022, and just published an opinion today lambasting OSHA’s vaccine mandate and staying its enforcement.
Continue Reading The U.S. Supreme Court Stays Enforcement of OSHA’s Nationwide Vaccine Mandate Because It Exceeds OSHA’s Authority

UPDATE: Fifth Circuit blocks enforcement of the federal OSHA COVID-19 vaccine/testing mandate.
On November 6, 2021, a panel of the fifth circuit issued a stay against the enforcement of OSHA‘s new emergency temporary standards mandating large employers to require vaccination or testing of their workforce. The court found that there are grave statutory and constitutional issues related to the mandatory emergency temporary standards that need to be addressed.

Continue Reading 5th Circuit Temporarily Blocks OSHA’s New COVID-19 Standards Mandating Employers With 100 or More Employees to Require Vaccination or Regular Testing

For what it’s worth, on October 25, 2021, the EEOC updated its guidance “What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws” and added Section L entitled “Vaccinations – Title VII and Religious Objections to COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates.”  While employers have been waiting for some guidance from the EEOC on this issue given the onslaught of requests for religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccine mandates, the guidance doesn’t really provide any new guidance addressing the unprecedented pandemic we are all living through.  Instead, the EEOC essentially repeats much of its prior guidance on how to generally address requests for religious accommodations in the workplace.
Continue Reading EEOC Issues Guidance Regarding Religious Accommodations in Connection with Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Policies

For those in the Sacramento area, you may have seen large “Destiny” signs overhanging State Route 65 north of Interstate 80. A news story last month suggested that this church is the place to go for COVID-19 vaccine exemption letters. Now that President Biden is planning to use the emergency powers of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to mandate vaccination for an estimated 100 million employees, the issue is even more prominent.
Continue Reading An Employee Has Requested a Religious Exemption to the Company Vaccine Mandate—What Now?