Lawyers offer guidance for Californian companies after Biden's policy is suspended, taken to Sixth Circuit Court for ruling
As the Sixth Circuit Court prepares to rule on the legality of President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate, companies are scrambling to decide whether they should go forward with requesting their workers be vaccinated.
Initially, employers with 100 or more employees had until December 5 to meet the mandate requirements, which include developing a written vaccination and/or testing program for their workforce, ensuring unvaccinated employees are adhering to mask requirements, providing four hours of paid leave for employees to receive any doses needed, and creating a standard protocol for evaluating requests for religious and disability exemptions.
But last week, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) suspended implementation and enforcement of its emergency temporary standard (ETS) after a federal appeals court temporarily halted the Biden administration's vaccine rule. Without government officials breathing down their neck for the time being, employers are wondering what their next step should be.
When the state of the law is murky, employers should operate according to their own risk tolerance level, says Sarah Sepasi, litigation counsel for Sepasi Legal, P.C., outside general counsel for the California Restaurant Association. “They should proceed with caution, though, as it appears that enforcement of mandates on large employers is a...
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