Supreme Court Blocks Vaccine Mandate for Large Employers
Today (1/13/2022), the Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration from enforcing its sweeping vaccine-or-test requirements for large private companies, but allowed similar requirements to stand for medical facilities that take Medicare or Medicaid payments.
The rulings came three days after the OSHA’s ETS measure took effect. While this comes as a huge relief to large employers, it doesn’t not mean employers (large or small) can let their safety procedures fall. As a reminder, under OSHA general duty clause employers must maintain a workplace “free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm”. OSHA can and will continue to issue citations as deemed appropriate under the general duty clause.
Please be sure to keep your COVID policy up to date, education employees on the steps they can take to protect themselves at work and home, and continue to follow CDC guidelines.
You may still wish to determine the vaccine status of your staff. Having this information at your fingertips, will assist with safety planning, structuring work assignments and to be able to promptly conduct contact tracing and inform employees of their quarantine requirements.
Please let us know if you have questions or need help building or updating your proactive COVID plan of action and policy.
