Vaccine mandates headed to Supreme Court

The  U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will hear legal challenges to the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccination and testing mandate for large employers.

Opening arguments on the case will take place on Jan. 7 at the Supreme Court. A collection of states and employer groups are challenging the Administration’s mandate.

Last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reinstated the COVID-19 vaccination mandate promulgated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) through an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS). 

The ETS applies to businesses with 100 or more employees and requires employees to be fully vaccinated or comply with weekly testing requirements. This ruling lifted a November injunction that had blocked the ETS and resulted in OSHA suspending enforcement as the legal process went forward.

Following the Sixth Circuit’s ruling, OSHA announced that they will not issue citations for non-compliance with any requirements of the ETS before Jan/ 10 and will not issue citations for noncompliance with the standard’s testing requirements before Feb. 9, as long as an employer is exercising reasonable, good faith efforts to come into compliance with the standard.

The National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) said it will be monitoring legal developments at the Supreme Court and provide information as needed. 

In addition, the NLBMDA is providing written comments to OSHA on behalf of the LBM industry in response to the ETS and dealer concerns.

NLBMDA has created a members-only guide, which provides an in-depth summary of the guidance issued by OSHA on the ETS. Members can also find the text of the ETS here and additional guidance from OSHA here.