WMC Litigation Center Update: Sixth Circuit Court dismisses lawsuit challenging OSHA’s ETS COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate
The federal Sixth Circuit Court dismissed the lawsuit challenging OSHA’s ETS COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The ETS would have required employers with 100 or more employees to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations and testing. OSHA withdrew the ETS in January after it was stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court. On February 18, the Sixth Circuit dismissed the lawsuit as moot due to OSHA’s withdrawal of the ETS.
When the ETS was first introduced in November, WMC’s Board of Directors decided to file an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit challenging it. The brief argued that the OSHA vaccine mandate was illegal because Congress had not given OSHA the statutory authority to mandate vaccinations. The WMC brief also outlined the devastating impact that the ETS would have on Wisconsin’s workforce and the business community.
“Wisconsin businesses can breathe a sigh of relief that the Supreme Court has stayed this unlawful and unworkable mandate,” said WMC President & CEO Kurt R. Bauer in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to stay the OSHA ETS order. “If enacted, employers would face untold financial costs to comply with this ETS and an unprecedented number of workers would walk off the job in the middle of a historic workforce shortage.”
While the final dismissal of the lawsuit against the OSHA ETS order leaves us without a definitive court decision, the Supreme Court decision concluded that the ETS is likely illegal, a decision that is a huge success for the business community.