Sixth Circuit Dissolves Stay of OSHA ETS, Permitting OSHA to Resume Implementation of ETS
December 20, 2021
Publications
On December 17, 2021, a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit dissolved the stay of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (“OSHA”) COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”) that had previously been issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. We summarized the Fifth Circuit’s opinion explaining its decision to impose the stay in a previous post.
Last month, the Sixth Circuit – one of 12 different federal Circuit Courts of Appeals in which lawsuits challenging the ETS were filed – was selected to hear the consolidated cases and ultimately decide whether the ETS is a valid exercise of OSHA’s authority. After the cases were consolidated in the Sixth Circuit, OSHA moved to dissolve the stay previously issued by the Fifth Circuit. On December 17, the Sixth Circuit granted OSHA’s motion.
