On Nov. 12., 2021, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals out of New Orleans issued a stay on the enforcement of the recent OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) on vaccine mandates for large private businesses (with more than 100 employees) pending further judicial review.
Several construction industry organizations had taken exception to this mandate, including the Associated Builders and Contractors and its Alabama chapter, which recently filed a petition for review with the U.S. Court of Appeals in the 11th Circuit against OSHA for the ETS.
“The OSHA ETS rule presents one of the greatest sources of risk and uncertainty to the construction industry because it is likely to exacerbate the skilled labor shortage currently facing the industry and many small businesses like my company,” said Steve Klessig, vice president of architecture and engineering at employee-owned Keller, Inc., Kaukauna, Wisconsin, and 2021 chair of the ABC board of directors. “ABC’s legal challenge pushes back against the Biden administration’s overreaching policy, which creates unnecessary tension between employers and employees and is likely to further disrupt America’s economic recovery.”
According to Jay Reed, president of ABC Alabama, the ETS will “create permanent and severe harm to construction industry employers and their 7.4 million employees, nearly 90,000 of whom live and work in Alabama.” By exceeding the Department of Labor’s statutory authority, Reed maintains that “OSHA fails to comply with the standards for issuing an ETS, particularly as it relates to the construction industry. ABC continues to encourage vaccination against COVID-19 but cannot support this mandate.”
For more insight on how this recent development could affect implementation of the ETS, read articles from The Washington Post, Reuters, and The New York Times. View the full decision document as issued by the court here. And for background on this story, read the original article on our website, outlining the ETS, which was scheduled to take effect on January 4, 2022.
