As we alerted yesterday, the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) blocked OSHA’s Emergency COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Standard (ETS) from taking effect. As a reminder, the ETS would have required employees at companies with 100 or more employees to either be fully vaccinated or tested for COVID-19 at least weekly. This still left question as to whether Oregon OSHA would adopt its own plan.
Last night OR-OSHA published the following:
“On January 13, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked enforcement of federal OSHA's Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard. Oregon OSHA will continue to monitor federal OSHA activities and respond as needed. In light of the Supreme Court decision, however, Oregon OSHA will not move forward with adopting the same or similar standard in Oregon. Oregon OSHA had engaged in discussions with stakeholders of such a rule adoption. It did so under the ‘at least as effective as’ federal OSHA requirement, which was prompted by adoption of the federal standard.
Oregon OSHA maintains a COVID-19 rule that requires employers to implement protections for workers. Those protections include infection control planning, exposure risk assessments, sanitation, and notification. Those measures also require employers to follow the Oregon Health Authority's requirement to use facial coverings indoors.
Oregon OSHA offers employers and workers free resources for maintaining safe and healthy workplaces, including consultation services, experts, and education and training.”
Accordingly, private employers with 100 or more employees will not be required to establish a vaccine or testing mandate. This decision does not impact other vaccine mandates employers may be subject to at the state or federal level, such as the mandates for healthcare workers or K-12 staff.
This decision also does not have any impact on employers that have established their own vaccine mandate and/or testing programs. Employers may still choose to adopt these programs on their own.
Cascade is actively monitoring this issue and will provide more information as we learn more. Please visit our COVID-19 Resource Center for more information and resources to prepare for compliance.