“On Friday, a US Appeals Court overturned the temporary halt on the vaccine mandate for large businesses. This is interesting to note because some of the same analysis used in connection with whether the large business mandate is enforceable could apply to the contractor vaccine mandate.
The OSHA mandate applied to employers with 100 or more employees. It required ‘employees be vaccinated or wear a protective face covering and take weekly tests but allows employers to choose the policy implementing those requirements that is best suited to their workplace.’…”
“The appeals court also noted that ‘employers may choose to comply with the standard by enforcing the mask-and-test component, which are entirely temporary in nature and do not create irreparable injuries.’…”
“The OSHA mandate allows testing OR a vaccine, so it is different in effect from the federal contractor mandate, which requires vaccination absent an accommodation or limited exceptions. It is also enforced by OSHA, which has a long history of enforcing workplace safety rules. These two facets of the OHSA mandate, and possibly more, make it a different animal than the federal contractor mandate, so it’s not certain how an appeals court will view the contractor mandate….” Read the full article here.
Source: Appeals Court Reinstates Large Business Vaccine Mandate – By Shane McCall, December 20, 2021. SmallGovCon.
