The decision halted federal OSHA’s mandate that would have taken effect last week
Following on the heels of NFIB’s big U.S. Supreme Court victory halting the federal Occupation Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) vaccine mandate, Oregon’s OSHA announced it would stop enforcement of its vaccination and emergency testing standard.
“On Jan. 13, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked enforcement of federal OSHA’s Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard. Oregon OSHA will continue to monitor federal OSHA activities and respond as needed. In light of the Supreme Court decision, however, Oregon OSHA will not move forward with adopting the same or similar standard in Oregon,” the agency said on its website.
The U.S. Supreme Court granted NFIB’s stay application in NFIB v. OSHA, halting the Occupational Health and Safety Administration’s (OSHA) vaccine mandate, which would have required businesses with 100 or more employees to have employees vaccinated or undergo weekly testing. The mandate was scheduled to begin last week. Read NFIB’s news release here. Hear from NFIB Small Business Legal Center’s Karen Harned here.
Bullard Law, one of Oregon’s leading employment law firms, posted this story on its website, So What Can Oregon and Washington Employers Do Now That The Supreme Court Ruled?
NFIB’s victory earned national media attention.
- NPR reported on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to issue a stay of OSHA’s vaccine mandate: “The National Federation of Independent Business called the decision a welcome relief for companies who are still trying to dig out from under the pandemic.”
- Legal Center Executive Director Karen Harned is quoted by NBC News: “They sighed a big sigh of relief yesterday. We’re already hearing from members that omicron is impacting them…Employees aren’t coming to work if they’re sick. As a result, that’s made the labor shortage even worse. This will help prevent a pile-on.”
- Harned is also quoted in Small Business Trends: “As small businesses try to recover after almost two years of significant business disruptions, the last thing they need is a mandate that would cause more business challenges.”
- “In National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor, the Supreme Court stayed implementation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (‘OSHA’) Emergency Temporary Standard (‘ETS’) which required employers with 100 or more employees to adopt a vaccination or testing requirement for all employees,” reports JD Supra.
