United States Supreme Court Stays OSHA COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard

Early this afternoon the Supreme Court entered a 6-3 decision staying enforcement of the OSHA COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard. The Court’s decision is the rule exceeds OSHA’s statutory authority, and that the states, businesses, and nonprofit organizations that challenged the rule are likely to prevail in the underlying litigation.

What is important to point out is that the Court’s ruling is specific to the federal OSHA rule. As was discussed yesterday, the Court’s ruling does not stay or invalidate rules from state workplace safety agencies (such as Minnesota) that require actions the same as, or similar to, the ETS, and which impose similar fines and sanctions. Neither will the Court’s ruling impact executive branch employees, federal contractors, or health care workers subject to similar requirements under different federal regulations. Private employers who voluntarily chose, or choose, to implement testing or vaccination policies will also be unaffected by this decision.

We will be following how the states react, and will update our alerts.

Employers with questions related to COVID-19 and the workplace following the Supreme Court’s decision, or other questions related to employment law, should contact Philip A. Toomey or Leah K. Sell.

Philip Toomey is Chair of the firm’s national Employment & Labor Practice Group, where he also leads the Public Sector Employment Group. He can be reached at 424.738.4400 or ptoomey@leechtishman.com.

Leah Sell is an Attorney with Leech Tishman in the Employment & Labor Practice Group. She is based in the Pittsburgh office and can be reached at 412.261.1600 or lsell@leechtishman.com.

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