In the face of a global pandemic posing unprecedented risks to worker health, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), the agency charged with protecting workers from occupational illness, has floundered. Its efforts to protect workers have been too little, too late, poorly designed, and entangled in legal controversy. Two years into a pandemic that has posed the greatest threat to worker health in our lifetimes, OSHA has adopted no effective, COVID-19-specific protections for workers. This article chronicles OSHA's efforts and the response of the courts.
COVID-19 vaccination and testing: emergency temporary standard. Fed Regist2021; 86.
19.
BST Holdings, LLC v. OSHA: 2021. No. 21-60845, 21 WL 5279381. (5th Cir. November 12, 2021).
20.
In re: MCP No. 165, Occupational Safety & Health Administration Rule on COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing: 2021. No. 20 F.4th 264, on denial of initial hearing en banc) (6th Cir. 2021).
21.
In re: MCP No. 165, Occupational Safety & Health Administration Rule on COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing: 2021. 20 F.4th 357, granting motion to dissolve stay.
National Federation of Independent Businesses v. OSHA: 2022. 595 U.S. (per curiam).
25.
Industrial Union Dep’t v. American Petroleum Inst: 1980. 448 U.S. 607.
26.
Forging Indus. Ass’n v. Sec’y of Labor: 1985. 773 F.2d 1436. (4th Cir. 1985) (en banc).
27.
Bloodborne pathogens, 29 C.F.R. Sect. 1910.1030(f)(1) (1992); (Under OSHA’s bloodborne pathogen standard employers are required to make vaccines available to employees); 29 CFR 1910.1025 (j)(2)-(3) (1978 under OSHA’s Lead standard employers are required to make medical surveillance including biologic monitoring available to employees).
28.
29 U.S.C. Sec. 669(a)(5). Research and Related Activities.
