The Labor Department put three states on notice that they could lose their authority to enforce their own workplace safety rules due to their refusal to adopt federal rules to protect healthcare workers from COVID-19.
The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration “has given up its authority to enforce workplace safety laws and regulations for the private sector in 22 states, and in exchange, those states must adopt rules that are as effective or better than the federal regulations at protecting workers,” the Associated Press reported.
Of the 22 states, Arizona, South Carolina and Utah are the only ones that have not adopted the healthcare emergency temporary standard or their own version of it since it was announced in June.
“The agency will not hesitate to use all of our resources to protect healthcare workers from known health hazards,” Jim Frederick, acting assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, said Tuesday at a press conference.
The three states’ attorney generals, along with AGs from 21 other states, oppose the Biden administration’s plan to require employers with 100 or more workers to mandate COVID-19 vaccination or frequent testing, foreshadowing potential legal battles ahead. OSHA sent the initial text of the emergency temporary standard to the Office of Management and Budget for review Oct. 12.
Meanwhile, in Maine, a legal challenge to mandatory vaccines for healthcare workers has hit a standstill. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer on Tuesday declined to block a vaccine requirement announced in August by Gov. Janet Mills (D). It is set to go into effect on Oct. 29 after a federal court ruled in favor of the state last week.
Breyer didn’t close the door altogether on the case, however. He declined the lawsuit “without prejudice.” The group still can take its case to the Supreme Court “after the federal appeals court rules on their appeal or if that court does not issue a decision by Oct. 29,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
