Appeals court clears the way for business vaccine mandate

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has the authority to impose COVID-19 vaccine requirements on U.S. workplaces, a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a 2-1 ruling on Friday. “Vaccination and medical examinations are both tools that OSHA historically employed to contain illness in the workplace,” wrote Judge Julia Smith Gibbons, an appointee of President George W. Bush. Twenty-seven Republican-led states, along with organizations and businesses, sued to block the mandate, which would apply to U.S. companies with more than 100 employees.

What happens now? The regulation was set to take effect Jan. 4, but OSHA said Saturday it would not enforce it until Jan. 10 at the earliest. The rule says unvaccinated employees must wear face masks and undergo weekly coronavirus testing. It allows exemptions for religious or medical reasons and for people who work from home or exclusively outdoors. Employers will have until Feb. 9 to set up their testing protocols for unvaccinated workers, OSHA said. Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, a Republican, said she would ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.

Dig deeper: Read Steve West’s report in Liberties about the court challenges to the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates for various groups.