On Friday, November 5, Snell & Wilmer published a Legal Alert regarding the provisions and effective dates of the federal OSHA Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard ("ETS"). In that Legal Alert, we noted that legal actions objecting to the enactment and enforcement of the ETS were filed across many jurisdictions on Thursday, November 4 and Friday, November 5.
As a result of one of those court actions, BST Holdings v. OSHA, 5th Cir., No. 21-60845, stay granted 11/6/21, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans suspended the federal OSHA ETS requiring employers to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations or requiring employees to submit to regular testing. Citing “grave statutory and constitutional issues," the Court stayed the ETS until further notice. The Court of Appeals has fast-tracked the legal process requiring federal OSHA to file its response to BST Holdings’ motion for a permanent injunction of the ETS by Monday, November 8 at 5 p.m. BST Holdings is ordered to file its reply brief by Tuesday, November 9 at 5 p.m.
Once all the briefs have been filed by both parties, the Court of Appeals will take the matter under consideration and issue a further ruling.
