In response to the Supreme Court ruling they do not have the authority to enforce mandatory vaccination and testing requirements, , OHSA has withdrawn the ETS.
On January 13, 2022, the Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) does not have the authority to implement its emergency temporary standard (ETS) requiring large employers (100-plus employees) to ensure their employees are vaccinated or undergo weekly testing and wear masks while working. The first phase of the ETS went into effect January 10, and the weekly testing of unvaccinated employees was set to begin February 9.
The Supreme Court’s decision ended months of debate and legal wrangling by businesses and states who argued OSHA’s efforts to implement mandatory vaccination and testing of 84 million Americans was an overreach of its authority.
In response, on January 25, 2022, OSHA announced that it is withdrawing the ETS, marking a permanent close on the dispute over its legality. This move only withdraws the vaccination and testing requirements as an enforceable ETS; OSHA is not withdrawing the ETS as a proposed rule. Their focus will be redirected to creating a COVID-19 Healthcare Standard.
