Supreme Court Stays OSHA ETS COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate

Today, the United States Supreme Court issued a stay of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (“OSHA”) COVID-19 vaccine emergency temporary standard (“ETS”). Enforcement of the ETS would have required all employers of 100 or more employees to institute vaccination status recordkeeping policies, require unvaccinated employees to become fully vaccinated or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing, and enforce mask-wearing for all unvaccinated employees. The Court held that OSHA lacks the authority to set broad public health measures in the manner contemplated in the ETS. Accordingly, the ETS is stayed pending the Sixth Circuit’s review of the merits of the challenges to the ETS and the exhaustion of any appeals to the Supreme Court.

We will continue to monitor this situation. If you have questions about this or any other workforce issue, please contact your relationship attorney or one of Honigman’s Labor and Employment attorneys.