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Under pressure, OSHA suspends workplace COVID-19 vaccine requirement

November 17, 2021

 

With legal and political challenges mounting to a Biden administration COVID-19 vaccine mandate for large employers, federal regulators put the rule on hold just weeks before businesses would have to start complying with requirements.

On Nov. 4, President Joe Biden announced that private businesses with more than 100 employees must require their staff to get fully vaccinated against the virus by Jan. 4 or face weekly testing and mandatory masking. Employers would have to comply with parts of the rule by Dec. 6, including developing a compliance plan and offering paid time off for vaccinations.

But at least 27 states including Iowa have filed legal challenges in at least six federal appeals courts. After a federal appeals court in New Orleans last Friday ordered that the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration to “take no steps to implement or enforce" the regulation until a court order allowed, OSHA announced it would do just that.

“While OSHA remains confident in its authority to protect workers in emergencies, OSHA has suspended activities related to the implementation and enforcement of the (Emergency Temporary Standard) pending future developments in the litigation,” the regulators wrote on the OSHA website.

With the flurry of legal challenges across several jurisdictions, all the cases were consolidated by a lottery held Tuesday in the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals based in Cincinnati, a panel dominated by judges appointed by Republicans.

On Wednesday, over 150 U.S. House Republicans including Eastern Iowa Reps. Ashley Hinson and Mariannette Miller-Meeks filed legislation seeking to nullify the Democratic president’s mandate.

Both Hinson and Miller-Meeks are vaccinated against COVID-19 and are encouraging others to get vaccinated. But they said they see the mandate as an overreach of presidential authority.

OSHA’s announcement was “great news” to Miller-Meeks, an Ottumwa physician who has administered vaccines in all 24 counties in southeast Iowa's 2nd District and previously served as director of the Iowa Department of Public Health.

“I have been calling for this mandate to be stopped since it was introduced, and I was proud to help introduce a resolution to block it from going into effect earlier today,” Miller-Meeks said.

U.S. House Republicans sponsored the resolution as a companion to a Senate resolution supported by GOP senators including Iowa’s Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst.

The GOP lawmakers want to void the administration’s rule that would have required an estimated 84 million workers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or face regular testing that could be at their own expense by Jan. 4. Unvaccinated workers would be required to wear a face mask on the job starting Dec. 6.

Hinson, a Marion Republican who represents the northeast Iowa 1st District, called the Biden vaccine mandate unconstitutional.

“While I hope everyone gets vaccinated against COVID-19, the (government) shouldn’t force you to receive the vaccine to keep a job,” she said on social media.

Hinson, who had COVID-19 shortly after being elected to Congress last year — before she was eligible for vaccination — encourages people to get vaccinated.

GOP U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, of Western Iowa’s 4th District, also co-sponsored the House resolution.

Iowa was among 11 states earlier this month jointly filing a lawsuit challenging the workplace vaccine requirement, asserting the authority to compel vaccinations lies with states.

Biden administration officials have cited mandates as being effective in boosting vaccination rates, in the hopes of increasing the stagnating national pace. Under the regulation being contested, employers face fines of up to $13,653 per violation for serious violations and up to $136,532 for willful or repeated violations.

The joint resolution would express Congress' formal disapproval of the OSHA standard and say that "such rule shall have no force or effect." With narrow Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, the resolution is expected to fail. But the vote could prove difficult for vulnerable incumbents up for re-election in 2022, The Hill reported.

Miller-Meeks on Wednesday also joined Iowa Democratic U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne and others to introduce bipartisan legislation to extend a federal deadline for health care providers to use federal dollars to care for patients and protect workers.

"I’m pleased that (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) is currently working to get $17 billion in (Provider Relief Fund) assistance out the door,“ Axne said in a statement. ”However, I believe more must be done to ensure those working every day against COVID-19 are prepared to treat cases and accommodate patients."

Echoing Miller-Meeks, Axne said the bill would ensure hospitals have funds to protect their workers, treat patients, and prepare for the potential rise in hospitalizations stemming from both the flu and COVID-19 this winter.