The vaccine-or-test requirement for large employers was blocked earlier this month by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, but the Biden administration asked the court to put it back into effect.
President Joe Biden is in Washington.
The Associated Press.
The policy that applies to all employers with more than 100 employees was temporarily blocked by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The lawsuit the 5th Circuit ruled on and more than 30 other lawsuits challenging the vaccine-or-test mandate were consolidated into a single case last week and moved to the 6th Circuit, which is made up of six judges appointed by Republican presidents.
The GOP state attorneys general behind some of the challenges are asking for the full court to rule, rather than a smaller panel of judges that could potentially be less right-leaning, because the 6th Circuit will issue a single ruling on the policy that will apply to all the litigation.
The appeals court won't rule in the case until at least December after being asked by the 6th Circuit to hear the case by November 30.
The case could be appealed to the Supreme Court if the 6th Circuit rules against the policy.
If the OSHA policy is restored, it will go into effect on January 4, but it will only last for six months before it is replaced by a permanent vaccine-or-test policy.
The Biden administration wrote in its court filing that delaying the standard would endanger many thousands of people and cost many lives per day. The threat to workers is still ongoing after the reopening of the workplace and the emergence of the highly transmissible Delta variant.
Chief critic.
State attorneys general argue in their court filing that the OSHA rule shouldn't be upheld because Covid-19 isn't a workplace-specific risk. While unvaccinated workers are more likely to die or be hospitalized, a multiple of a small risk is still a small risk according to the anti-mandate plaintiffs.
The number is big.
More than 6,000. If the vaccine-or-test mandate is allowed to take effect, OSHA estimates it would prevent over six months of deaths from Covid-19.
We don't know what we don't know.
If the OSHA mandate is allowed to take effect, it will clash with conflicting state policies. Several GOP-led states have imposed policies to combat vaccine mandates, including bans on employer vaccine mandates in states like Texas and Montana and a new Florida law that requires employers to have more exemptions to vaccine requirements. Some companies in Texas have already moved forward with vaccine mandates despite the state policy because of the federal rule, though the issue is likely to end up in court if the federal rule takes effect.
There is a structure called the Tangent.
The OSHA mandate for private employers is different from the vaccine mandates imposed on federal employees, contractors, and healthcare workers. The healthcare worker and contractor mandates have been the subject of lawsuits by multiple GOP-led states. A federal district court in Florida ruled Saturday not to block the healthcare employee law while the state's litigation against it moves forward.
The key background.
The Biden administration's vaccine-or-test mandate, which requires workers to be tested weekly if they're not vaccine-free, has been heavily controversial since it was first announced in September. According to a survey, a slim majority of Americans approve of the policy and companies that already have vaccine mandates in place have generally reported high levels of compliance, but Republicans have decried the mandates as unnecessary government overreach. The 5th Circuit argued in its ruling that the OSHA requirement is excessive and problematic and isn't justified as an emergency mandate. OSHA said it was suspending implementation of the policy until a court reinstated it, though it said it remained confident in its authority to protect workers in emergencies.
The Biden administration is asking the court to allow a vaccine mandate.
The 6th Circuit Court won a lottery to hear lawsuits against Biden's vaccine rule.
The Biden Administration Covid-19 Vaccine Mandate was temporarily blocked by the Federal Appeals Court.
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