Rebuttal Filed Against Stay Order for Mandatory Employee Vaccines

Attorneys for the Biden administration late last week filed arguments against the stay order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit halting implementation of an emergency standard requiring large employers to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for their workers, Bloomberg Law reports.

In a brief to the Sixth Circuit, lawyers argued that opponents of the emergency standard ignored its benefits, mainly that it will save an average of 77 lives per day. The brief explained the vaccine mandate will help employers by reducing the frequency of COVID-19 cases in the workplace, which is well worth the “modest” costs business will need to pay to implement the standard.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) finalized the emergency standard last month. The standard sets up temporary regulations mandating that employers with at least 100 workers require that their employees either get vaccinated against COVID-19 or get tested regularly. However, the Fifth Circuit blocked the standard on November 6.

Lawyers representing Texas, Florida, and 25 other states have said the emergency standard is an unprecedented exercise of power that will ultimately be found unlawful. They argued that the Biden administration’s description of the risks for COVID-19 infections “is just another way of describing dangers humans face as a result of being alive.”

Lawyers for the Biden administration responded in their brief that workplace dangers have historically included the risk of contracting communicable diseases. They say the Occupational Safety and Health Act authorized OSHA to set safety and health standards which can include vaccination.