Victory for Construction Advocacy Fund-Financed ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Lawsuit
On January 25, OSHA revoked its COVID-19 vaccination-or-testing emergency temporary standard (ETS) applicable to private businesses with 100 or more employees in light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision. This is a clear legal victory for ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ of America and its -financed lawsuit challenging the ETS. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed with ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½â€™s argument, among others, that OSHA overreached and exceeded its authority under the law.
Although this lawsuit against OSHA is over, ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ of America continues to press forward in another Construction Advocacy Fund-financed lawsuit against the federal contractor vaccine mandate, currently under nationwide stay. And the association’s broader efforts to support the construction industry’s voluntary encouragement for the use of COVID-19 vaccines continue with more construction-specific resources and a series of Construction Advocacy Fund-financed public service ads found on its COVID-19 Vaccine Toolkit webpage.
In addition to withdrawing the ETS, it is ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½â€™s understanding that the agency will no longer pursue a permanent infectious disease standard broadly applicable to private businesses, ending the threat of such a mandate enduring forever. The agency will, however, pursue a more tailored permanent standard applicable to healthcare.
ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ members should continue to follow , as the agency plans general enforcement of COVID-19 protocols via the Occupational Safety and Health Act’s General Duty Clause.
For more information, contact Kevin Cannon at kevin.cannon@agc.org or Nazia Shah at Nazia.shah@agc.org.