Biden administration withdraws OSHA employee vaccine requirement following Supreme Court decision

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Tuesday withdrew its November 2021 order that mandated U.S. workers at companies with 100 or more employees receive a COVID-19 vaccination.

"Job Creators Network and American small businesses have defeated the Biden administration's illegal vaccine mandate that threatened to burden job creators with new costs and exacerbate the historic labor shortage," said Alfredo Ortiz, president and CEO of the JCN, the first to petition the Supreme Court to block the rule.

The withdrawal follows a recent ruling by the high court that blocked the vaccine mandate for big businesses, though allowed the administration's mandate for healthcare workers to remain in place.

The administration's decision Tuesday to withdraw the mandate was announced in a Federal Register notice from the Labor Department that in part reads: "On January 13, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed the Vaccination and Testing ETS, finding that challengers were likely to prevail on their claims. 

" ... After evaluating the Court’s decision, OSHA is withdrawing the Vaccination and Testing ETS as an enforceable emergency temporary standard ... . Notwithstanding the withdrawal of the Vaccination and Testing ETS, OSHA continues to strongly encourage the vaccination of workers against the continuing dangers posed by COVID-19 in the workplace."