Nation/World

Employer vaccine penalties to start Jan. 10 after appeals court allows Biden mandate to move forward

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration said Saturday that it would not issue citations tied to its coronavirus vaccination mandate before Jan. 10, so that companies have time to adjust to and implement the requirements.

The federal agency separately said there would be no citations of companies regarding its testing requirements before Feb. 9.

The announcement came after a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth District in Cincinnati decided 2-1 on Friday that the mandate for larger private employers could go forward, reversing a previous court decision made after 27 Republican-led states, conservative groups, business associations and some individual companies challenged the mandate. They argued that OSHA was not authorized to make the emergency rule.

Administration officials estimate that the mandate will save 6,500 lives and prevent 250,000 hospitalizations over six months.

OSHA said in a statement that it would not issue citations before the listed dates “so long as an employer is exercising reasonable, good faith efforts to come into compliance with the standard.”

The mandate was previously slated to take effect Jan. 4.

The Biden administration’s vaccine requirement applies to companies with 100 or more employees and covers about 84 million U.S. workers. Employees who are not fully vaccinated have to wear face masks and be subject to weekly COVID-19 tests. There are exceptions, including for those who work outdoors or only at home.

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The case was consolidated before the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit, which is dominated by Republican-appointed judges. Of the two ruling in favor of the OSHA mandate, one was appointed by a Democratic president and the other by a Republican. The dissenting judge was appointed by former President Donald Trump.

“Given OSHA’s clear and exercised authority to regulate viruses, OSHA necessarily has the authority to regulate infectious diseases that are not unique to the workplace,” Judge Julia Smith Gibbons wrote in her majority opinion.

Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said she would ask the U.S. Supreme Court to block the order.

“The Sixth Circuit’s decision is extremely disappointing for Arkansans because it will force them to get the shot or lose their jobs,” she said.

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, who also is chairman of the Republican Attorneys General Association, said in a Twitter message Friday that he was confident the mandate could be stopped.

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