The OMB and the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force announced that they anticipate further guidance will be issued following the narrowing of the enjoined order requiring employees working on federal government contracts be vaccinated for COVID-19.
On August 26, 2022, the Eleventh Circuit upheld a lower court’s injunction of Executive Order 14042, President Biden’s executive order requiring employees working on federal government contracts to be vaccinated for COVID-19, but narrowed its scope.
This post provides basic information on employee vaccination mandates issued at the federal and statewide levels. State laws curtailing private employer vaccination programs are also noted.
With the Supreme Court’s consideration of challenges to the OSHA and CMS vaccine mandates making headlines, less attention has been paid to the federal contractor vaccine mandate even though it remains a separate topic of continuing interest for many.
On December 7, 2021, a federal court in Georgia issued an order enjoining the president, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force, and 18 executive agencies and departments from enforcing the vaccine mandate that was established for federal contractors.
A federal court has issued an order granting a preliminary injunction to block the enforcement of the vaccine mandate for federal contractors and subcontractors in all covered contracts in Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee.
On November 16, 2021, Governor Spencer J. Cox signed SB2004 into law, placing limitations and additional obligations on Utah employers that have implemented vaccine or testing requirements on employees.
On November 15, 2021, Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi issued Executive Order No. 2021-075, which integrates prior COVID-19-related orders still in effect and, notably, includes vaccine/testing requirements for employers with over 50 employees.
On Friday, November 12, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an order staying enforcement and implementation of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) COVID-19 “vaccine or test” emergency temporary standard.
