As the Supreme Court prepares to hear oral argument in challenges to OSHA’s COVID-19 vaccine-or-test emergency temporary standard (ETS) and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) mandate for health workers, legal experts say its decision could set new precedent curbing OSHA and other agencies’ regulatory authority.
OSHA has released a new regulatory interpretation letter that says employers may allow workers who maintain facial hair because of a disability or closely-held religious belief to use loose-fitting powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs) as alternatives to fitted N95 masks to protect against COVID-19 exposure.
OSHA is providing new guidance for employers to review workers’ self-administered COVID-19 tests under its pandemic emergency temporary standard (ETS), warning that while such tests can satisfy the rule’s requirement for weekly testing of unvaccinated employees they must be either read or observed by a third party.
OSHA has confirmed that it is withdrawing most of its COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) for healthcare facilities but says it still plans a permanent rulemaking for the sector and will continue enforcement action in the interim under the OSH Act’s general duty clause.
The Supreme Court announced Dec. 22 that it will hear oral argument Jan. 7 in litigation over both OSHA’s vaccine-or-test emergency temporary standard (ETS) for large employers and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) vaccine mandate for many health workers, linking the two high-profile challenges to federal pandemic powers.
OSHA Dec. 21 allowed its COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS) for healthcare workers to expire, spurring criticism from healthcare and workers’ rights advocates and calls for the agency to “expeditiously” issue a permanent standard to protect frontline medical workers amid a fresh spike in cases from the Omicron variant.
OSHA plans to start enforcing its COVID-19 vaccination emergency temporary standard (ETS) on Jan. 10, with employer vaccine policies to take effect Feb. 9 -- provided employers make “good faith efforts” to comply -- after a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit voted 2-1 to dissolve an earlier order staying the rule.
The California OSHA’s (Cal/OSHA) standards board has readopted -- and strengthened -- a controversial COVID-19 worker-safety emergency temporary standard (ETS) through next April, even as Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) authorized the board to continue the standard through the end of 2022 while officials continue to work on a permanent standard.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit has denied petitions for initial en banc review of the consolidated challenges to OSHA’s vaccine emergency temporary standard (ETS), opening the field of judges who could potentially serve on a three-judge panel to decide whether to lift an injunction blocking the standard’s adoption.
The Senate voted Dec. 7 to approve a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution that would nullify OSHA’s emergency COVID-19 vaccination rule with two Democrats joining the chamber’s Republicans to back it, marking a symbolic win for the GOP even though it faces long odds in the House and a certain veto if it does pass there.