A lawsuit spearheaded by a Louisiana business owner has led a federal appeals court to order the Biden administration to halt enforcement of its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for private employers until the issue is fully adjudicated.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit sided with Louisiana grocery store owner Brandon Trosclair and several Texas petitioners in issuing an extended stay against the federal vaccine mandate. The Biden administration’s plan was unveiled in an emergency temporary standard (ETS) issued Nov. 5 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
“The mandate imposes a financial burden upon (private employers) by deputizing their participation in OSHA’s regulatory scheme, exposes them to severe financial risk if they refuse or fail to comply, and threatens to decimate their workforces (and business prospects) by forcing unwilling employees to take their shots, take their tests or hit the road,” the court said.
The court also concluded that the mere specter of the vaccine mandate has led to economic upheaval and uncertainties across the nation, not to mention workplace strife.
“The public interest is also served by maintaining our constitutional structure and maintaining the liberty of individuals to make intensely personal decisions according to their own convictions – even, or perhaps particularly, when those decisions frustrate government officials,” the opinion says.
Buck Dougherty, a senior attorney for the Liberty Justice Center, which teamed up with the New Orleans-based Pelican Institute for Public Policy to file the Trosclair case, expressed satisfaction with the court’s decision.
“We were very pleased the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in our clients' favor in its historic opinion on Nov. 12, staying OSHA's ETS vaccine or testing mandate and ordering OSHA to take no further steps to implement or enforce the mandate until further court order,” Dougherty told the Louisiana Record in an email.
As a result of a multidistrict judicial panel’s decision, the case will be transferred to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, where all the challenges filed against the vaccine mandate nationwide will be consolidated.
In a statement, OSHA indicated that it would follow the Fifth Circuit’s order on not enforcing the new rule.
“While OSHA remains confident in its authority to protect workers in emergencies, OSHA has suspended activities related to the implementation and enforcement of the ETS pending future developments in the litigation,” the agency said.