On May 1, 2023, the Biden administration announced that it would be ending all of its various COVID-19 vaccination requirements on May 11, 2023, the same date as the COVID-19 national emergency and public health emergency...more
On January 13, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States issued an opinion staying preliminary injunctions issued in cases filed in Missouri and Louisiana challenging the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS)...more
1/24/2022
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Compliance Dates ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Providers ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Hospitals ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Stays ,
Vaccinations
On December 7, 2021, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral argument on the cases challenging both the secretary of Health and Human Services’ interim final rule and the secretary of Labor’s emergency temporary...more
1/14/2022
/ Administrative Authority ,
Biden Administration ,
Biden v Missouri ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Lack of Authority ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Preemption ,
SCOTUS ,
Stays ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
On Friday, January 7, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments on challenges to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard...more
1/10/2022
/ Case Consolidation ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Oral Argument ,
OSHA ,
Preemption ,
Regulatory Authority ,
SCOTUS ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing
On December 15, 2021, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed, in part, a nationwide preliminary injunction prohibiting the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) from enforcing its COVID-19 vaccination mandate...more
In a 32-page order issued on November 29, 2021, United States District Judge Matthew T. Schelp entered a preliminary injunction against the Biden administration’s Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) interim final...more
Many hospitals and other healthcare organizations started mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for some or all of their workers over the last six months. Now all of the specified Medicare and Medicaid-certified provider and...more
11/5/2021
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employer ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hospitals ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
OSHA ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Vaccinations
Following in the footsteps of governors in states such as Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas, on October 28, 2021, Missouri Governor Mike Parson issued Executive Order 21-10, a measure intended to chip away at the reach of federal...more
11/1/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Branch ,
Executive Orders ,
Governor Parson ,
OIRA ,
OSHA ,
Public Agencies ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
State and Local Government ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Vaccinations ,
Vaccine Passports
On August 23, 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted full approval to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. Moderna’s expedited application for full approval is still pending, and Johnson & Johnson plans to submit its...more
8/24/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
FDA Approval ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Pfizer ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Vaccinations ,
Vaccine Passports
With transmission of the Delta variant on the rise, many employers are revisiting plans to implement COVID-19 vaccination policies. As we have previously explained, employers may encourage and mandate vaccination against...more
8/13/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Educational Institutions ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Masks ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
On June 15, 2021, Missouri Governor Mike Parson signed House Bill 271 prohibiting any county, city, town, or village government receiving public funds from requiring COVID-19 vaccination documents (commonly known as “vaccine...more
6/16/2021
/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Disability ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Governor Parson ,
OSHA ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Exemption ,
State and Local Government ,
Vaccinations ,
Vaccine Passports
Many workplace leaders have been wondering, “Can we require employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of employment?” According to a recent Ogletree Deakins benchmarking survey, most employers are not ready to...more
6/15/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hospitals ,
New Guidance ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Vaccinations
On April 21, 2021, in a further push to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations for those individuals who have been hesitant, the White House issued a fact sheet titled, “President Biden to Call on All Employers to Provide Paid Time...more
On Tuesday, April 6, 2021, while touring a vaccination site in Alexandria, Virginia, President Joe Biden imposed a deadline on every state to open up vaccination eligibility to all adults by April 19, 2021 (moving up the...more
By all accounts, the availability of a vaccine for COVID-19 is a matter of when, not if. According to the World Health Organization, as of August 25, 2020, 173 potential vaccines are currently being developed in labs across...more
9/8/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Infectious Diseases ,
OSHA ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Title VII ,
Undue Hardship ,
Vaccinations
In 2015, long before COVID-19 emerged, a hospital disciplined and discharged a recruiter in its HR department who refused to obtain a hospital-required influenza vaccination or to don a mask at work as an alternative. In a...more
Flu season is coming, and healthcare (and other) organizations may be asking whether they should have mandatory flu vaccine policies. If an employer decides to implement a mandatory program, the next question is how to...more