Category: Federal
OSHA Vaccine Mandate: 6th Circuit Lifts Stay on Large Employer Vax or Test Mandate | Appeal to US Supreme Court Expected | OSHA Moving Forward with Enforcement
Background: Multiple Groups including 26 states filed petitions in the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and D.C. Circuits, requesting a stay of OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) which featured a requirement that employers with at least 100 employees adopt a COVID-19 vaccination policy that requires employees…
Injunctions Against CMS Vaccine Mandate Partially Upheld – Supreme Court Review Requested
Three-Judge panels in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th and 5th Circuits have partially upheld recent District Court injunctions prohibiting enforcement of the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers. The mandates, originally adopted in rules adopted by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services…
U.S. District Courts Block Vaccine Mandate for Health Care Workers
On Monday, November 29, 2021, U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Schelp of the Eastern District of Missouri, issued a preliminary injunction which prohibited implementation and enforcement of the federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate for Medicare- and Medicaid-certified providers and suppliers. The preliminary injunction only applies to…
6th Circuit To Hear OSHA Vax ETS Challenge; OSHA Suspends Action; State Plans Expected To Wait And Watch
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit was selected to hear the consolidated challenges to Federal OSHA ETS mandating vaccine or test for large employers. The Sixth Circuit has jurisdiction over federal appeals arising from the states of Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and…
OSHA Vaccine Mandate: Lawsuits in 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 11th, and D.C. Circuits; 5th Circuit Issues Stay
Background: Multiple Groups including 26 states filed petitions in the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and D.C. Circuits, requesting a stay of OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) which featured a requirement that employers with at least 100 employees adopt a vaccination policy that requires employees to…
OSHA Official Warns Employers To Prevent Heat-Related Incidents
With average temperatures rising as a result of climate change, a top OSHA official is warning employers to ensure they take adequate precautions to protect their workers from heat-related injury or death, or face risk of enforcement actions and penalties. Kelly Schnapp, director of OSHA’s…
Congress Moves To Gut OSHA Plan To Weigh Violations In Procurement
Despite a threatened veto from the White House, the Senate appears slated to join the House in adopting legislation that would gut OSHA’s plan for implementing President Obama’s directive that the agency consider government contractors’ records of workplace violations in granting contracts. The Senate has…
Industry Details Strategy To Stymie OSHA’s Electronic Reporting Rule
Industry groups are laying out a multi-part strategy aimed at stymieing — and eventually rewriting — OSHA’s recently finalized electronic recordkeeping and reporting rule, signaling the measure will face significant opposition in Congress and the courts as the Obama administration prepares to leave office in…
Rules To Protect Workers From Chemicals, Falls Top OSHA’s Agenda
OSHA is planning to advance several dozen rules and proposed rules in the coming year, ranging from measures to protect workers from slips, trips and falls, industrial facility accidents and exposure to numerous toxic chemicals, according to a federal rulemaking docket. In the Spring 2016…
OSHA Official Says Industry Court Challenges Unlikely To Delay Silica Rule
A top OSHA official is pushing back against industry plans to delay implementation of the agency’s new rule limiting silica exposures in workplaces, calling recent industry appeals court challenges to the rule an “expected” consequence of any major OSHA rule, and saying the lawsuits are…
Facing Suit, OSHA Chief Offers Broad Defense Of New Injury Reporting Rule
Facing an almost certain legal challenge from industry groups, OSHA chief David Michaels is offering a broad legal and policy defense of the agency’s new rule requiring facilities to report worker injury data, arguing the measure is legally justified and will encourage employers to provide…
Industry Backs ‘Abatement Before Citation’ Bill, But Says Right To Contest Should Be Preserved
Industry advocates are voicing strong support for a measure put forth by Rep. Vickly Hartzler (R-MO) to alter OSHA enforcement by letting employers sidestep citations for non-serious regulatory violations as long as the alleged hazards are abated during a “grace period,” but there is also…
