As you’ve likely heard, the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling granting a temporary stay of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) vaccine or weekly testing Emergency Temporary Standard for private businesses. So what happens now?
ICW Group reminds businesses that you‘re still required to provide safe workplaces. Masks, cleanliness, social distancing, and ultimately vaccination are all ways to reduce the risk of COVID-19 in your workplace. Visit our COVID-19 resources page on our Policyholder Center for helpful resources, including an Infectious Disease Preparedness and Prevention Plan template that you can customize for your work environment. Here’s a recap of the Supreme Court ruling from our HR OnDemand® human resources partners:
The United States Supreme Court has halted the OSHA vaccine-or-test Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS). As a result, covered employers (those with 100 or more employees) are not currently required to comply with the ETS.
Employers should continue to comply with all other federal, state, and local requirements—this ruling only affects the OSHA ETS. If you’re in a state with an OSHA State Plan, you should continue to keep an eye out for state OSHA requirements.
The Supreme Court ruling was limited to whether the stay should be put back in place. The case now returns to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to determine whether the ETS is beyond OSHA’s authority. Based on the reasoning of the Supreme Court, which indicated that OSHA had overstepped its bounds by regulating public health generally rather than just occupational health, it seems unlikely that the ETS will be revived.
