Biden Administration Halts COVID-19 Employer Mandate

The Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced earlier this month that it is suspending its enforcement of the Biden administration's new rules ordering larger employers to either require that their workers get vaccinated against "emergency temporary standard" or undergo weekly testing. OSHA, which posted the announcement on its website, added that it "remains confident in its authority to protect workers in emergencies."

The agency's decision to stop implementing and enforcing the new rule comes after a federal appeals court recently reaffirmed an earlier temporary halt to the Biden administration's vaccine rule and ordered OSHA to stop enforcing or implementing the regulation. On November 12, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted a motion to stay OSHA’s Covid-19 Vaccination and Testing ETS. On November 29, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Biden administration from enforcing a vaccine mandate for health care workers in 10 states. Judge Matthew Schelp of the Eastern District of Missouri issued the preliminary injunction for workers at Medicare- and Medicaid-certified medical facilities in Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, New Hampshire, Nebraska, Wyoming, and North and South Dakota, according to court documents.