{"id":8056,"date":"2022-01-06T17:46:31","date_gmt":"2022-01-06T22:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greaterlouisville.com\/?p=8056"},"modified":"2022-01-12T15:27:43","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T20:27:43","slug":"supreme-court-hears-vaccine-mandate-case-mandate-goes-into-effect-next-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greaterlouisville.com\/advocacy-and-legislation\/supreme-court-hears-vaccine-mandate-case-mandate-goes-into-effect-next-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court hears vaccine mandate case, enforcement and timeline remains unclear"},"content":{"rendered":"

After months of back-and-forth rulings in lower federal courts, the Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on Friday regarding President Biden\u2019s federal vaccine mandate for private employers with over 100 workers. The mandate was implemented through the Occupational Safety & Health Administration\u2019s (OSHA) emergency temporary standard (ETS) and requires all employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly testing. Following a ruling by a federal judge in December<\/a>, the ETS is slated to go into effect on Monday, January 10, but OSHA has stated that they will not fine employers until February 9.<\/p>\n

While the Supreme Court\u2019s expedited review of the ETS is significant, they will not be deciding on the validity of the rule at this time. Instead, the Supreme Court will review the case to determine whether the temporary injunction previously issued to block the rule is proper. In addition to the private employer mandate, the Supreme Court will also review the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) mandate for healthcare workers, which is currently blocked in Kentucky \u2013 again, not on the validity of the rule, but on whether the previous injunction was proper.<\/p>\n

While uncertainty regarding the timeline remains, businesses who wish to begin taking steps to get into compliance should the mandate go into effect can do the following:<\/p>\n