OSHA will try a different route to a vaccine mandate for businesses

The decision comes in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling that blocked OSHA from implementing the mandate while lawsuits opposing it made their way through the lower courts.But the agency also indicated that it is still working on getting the mandate instituted via a completely different, albeit slower, mechanism.OSHA's initial attempt to implement a vaccine mandate was done under a clause of US law that allows the agency to issue temporary emergency standards in response to "new hazards." Reasoning that SARS-CoV-2 represents a new hazard, the emergency standard would require vaccination or testing and apply to companies with 100 or more employees, provided those employees were not consistently working outdoors.A number of states and business organizations sued to block this emergency standard. That's not to say the same justices won't find different reasons to block the rule, just that it's more likely to survive than the emergency standard, given the recent decision.In the meantime, OSHA's statement on the matter ends by noting that the agency "strongly encourages vaccination of workers against the continuing dangers posed by COVID-19 in the workplace."You must login or create an account to comment.Join the Ars Orbital Transmission mailing list to get weekly updates delivered to your inbox.