On January 13, the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the stay on the emergency vaccine-or-test rule for large employers that was expected to be fully implemented February 9. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will no longer be able to move forward with implementing the emergency temporary standard (ETS) while litigation on the merits of the rule continues, though the ruling does not impact the work on the permanent version of the rule that is currently underway. The decision also does not prevent states, like Washington, from issuing their own vaccine-or-test rules under their own laws, nor prevent individual employers to impose their own mandates.

In making their 6-3 decision, all of the Court’s “conservatives” voted to reinstate the stay, with all the “liberals” voting to allow the ETS to go forward. The majority focused on the fact that Congress has not specifically authorized OSHA to impose such a sweeping emergency rule to combat a public health crisis whose dangers are not limited to workplaces. The dissenting justices argued that OSHA had met the requirements for issuing an ETS by demonstrating that the COVID-19 pandemic was a grave workplace danger, that OSHA was legally obligated to act against the obvious emergency, and that the agency had tailored the rule to the working conditions most at risk of COVID-19 transmission and the methods most likely to prevent serious infections.

In a press conference on January 13, Gov. Inslee reiterated that the Supreme Court decision does not impact Washington’s ability impose its own state-level vaccine or testing mandate for employers, though he didn’t outline any immediate plans to do so. AWC will continue to work with the Governor’s office, state agencies, and the Legislature to keep cities up to date on state-level vaccine or testing requirements that may emerge.