Monday morning musings for workplace watchers
Sixth Circuit Roadmap | New DOL Push on OT?
Robert Iafolla: The court order freezing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Covid-19 shot-or-test rule could cause the agency even more problems in light of how the litigation schedule is shaping up over the next few weeks.
The fight over the stay, which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued Nov. 6, could be “the whole ballgame, from a practical standpoint,” said Sean Marotta, an appellate attorney at Hogan Lovells. He noted the six-month emergency rule is set to expire in early May and the case seems to be moving forward at a deliberate pace.
The timing got more complicated for the agency last week after the Biden administration asked for the stay to be lifted.
The Sixth Circuit, which was selected in a multi-circuit lottery to hear the consolidated case challenging the OSHA standard, responded with a briefing schedule indicating it won’t rule on the administration’s request until after Dec. 10.
That means the briefing will run past Dec. 6, the emergency standard’s first major compliance deadline. The rule calls for employers by that point to develop a vaccine policy, determine employee vaccination status, and provide leave for worker vaccination or recovery.
The administration then asked the Sixth Circuit Nov. 24 to tighten its timeline for briefing on its petition to lift the stay by four days and to immediately set an expedited schedule for...
The Government of India has rejected a viral video that falsely claims the country is facing a civil war-like situation. The Fact Check Unit of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) clarified that th...