Late Friday, Dec. 17, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling that gave life to OSHA’s emergency temporary standard (ETS) requiring employers with 100 or more employees to implement a vaccine mandate policy with a weekly testing option. OSHA’s ETS had been subject to a temporary stay issued by the Fifth Circuit of Appeals. Numerous lawsuits were filed across the country seeking to block OSHA’s enforcement of the ETS.
Those lawsuits were consolidated while the Fifth Circuit’s stay remained in place. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals was chosen, by lottery, as the court to hear arguments on whether the stay should be enforced or dissolved. The Sixth Circuit’s decision dissolves the stay, allowing OSHA to enforce the ETS.