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Breaking: Sixth Circuit Lifts Stay of Vaccine Mandate For Large Employers


Talk about late breaking news for a Friday:  A three judge panel from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a temporary stay that had previously been in place that prevented a test or vaccine mandate for employers with at least 100 employees from being enforced.

Readers will recall that the President Joe Biden instructed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue a mandate that required every large scale private employer have each of its employees either get the coronavirus vaccine or submit to weekly testing.  However, after lawsuits were filed to contest this mandate, the Sixth Circuit eventually got the consolidated cases and issued a temporary stay in November that kept this mandate from going into effect.  However, the three judge panel’s decision today noted that the alleged injuries claimed by the claimants was “entirely speculative” and the costs of delaying implementing the mandate were high.  (Not to mention the Court gave a nod to the Omicron variant and the potential risks associated with that variant spreading across the country.  As the Court noted, requiring vaccines is paramount to stopping the spread of this variant.)

Some might be wondering, what now?  For starters, these large scale employers will be required to either have all their employers receive the coronavirus vaccine or submit to weekly testing by January 4th.  For those employees that are not vaccinated, they will be required to wear masks in the workplace.  (That particular requirement was set to take effect December 6th.  Today’s ruling does not clarify when that mask requirement will be enforced.)

Of course, I think this matter will eventually wind up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.  The only question is when?


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