Sixth Circuit Dissolves Stay Against Enforcement of OSHA’s Vaccine ETS

On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit dissolved the stay on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (OSHA Vaccination ETS), allowing it to go into effect pending court review.

The Sixth Circuit determined that there was neither a likelihood of success against the OSHA Vaccination ETS nor a demonstration of irreparable harm by allowing the rule to remain in place. The court ultimately found the stated risk of harm “entirely speculative,” pointing to accommodations, variances, and the option to mask-and-test in response to concerns for the workforce shortages. With this ruling in place, the OSHA Vaccination ETS can move forward and the decision is appealable to the U.S. Supreme Court.

OSHA has updated its OSHA Vaccination ETS landing page pushing compliance deadlines to January 10 and February 9, stating: “To provide employers with sufficient time to come into compliance, OSHA will not issue citations for noncompliance with any requirements of the ETS before January 10 and will not issue citations for noncompliance with the standard’s testing requirements before February 9, so long as an employer is exercising reasonable, good faith efforts to come into compliance with the standard.”