Compliance Alert: OSHA Issues Emergency Temporary Standard to Minimize COVID-19 Risk in the Workplace
November 8, 2021
Updated November 15, 2021:
- OSHA – On November 12, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted a motion to stay OSHA’s COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard, published on November 5, 2021 (86 Fed. Reg. 61402) (“ETS”). The court ordered that OSHA “take no steps to implement or enforce” the ETS “until further court order.” While OSHA remains confident in its authority to protect workers in emergencies, OSHA has suspended activities related to the implementation and enforcement of the ETS pending future developments in the litigation. https://www.osha.gov/coronavirus/ets2
- SHRM – Should Employers Keep Preparing for the COVID-19 ETS? https://www.shrm.org/ResourcesAndTools/legal-and-compliance/employment-law/Pages/coronavirus-should-employers-continue-to-comply-with-ETS.aspx
Original Post from November 8, 2021:
On November 5, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission in the workplace.
The ETS went into effect immediately and establishes binding requirements to protect unvaccinated employees of large employers (100 or more employees) from the risk of contracting COVID-19 in the workplace.
OSHA published a helpful Summary Sheet, COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing ETS that can be found here.
For additional information, please refer to the OSHA website, https://www.osha.gov/coronavirus/ets2.
