The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has extended the comment period for the COVID-19 vaccination and testing emergency temporary standard (ETS) to Jan. 19, 2022. The additional 45 days provides stakeholders additional time to review the ETS, as well as gather needed information to make a comment.
Comments can be submitted electronically at https://www.regulations.gov, the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. The website contains instructions for making electronic submissions; it is the only way to submit comments on this rule.
On Nov. 5, OSHA issued an ETS in the Federal Register requiring employers with 100 or more employees to develop, implement and enforce a vaccination or weekly testing and maskwearing policy to prevent the spread of COVID-19 at the workplace.
The following day, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit blocked the implementation and enforcement of the ETS. Several other appeals were made, and according to the lottery process, the ETS is now being considered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Earlier this week, a federal judge temporarily blocked a separate national mandate that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued requiring all healthcare workers be vaccinated against COVID-19.