WASHINGTON – A federal court on Friday refused to lift the Biden administration’s ban on vaccines against businesses with 100 or more workers.
The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Court of Appeals granted an emergency stay last Saturday at a request from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration that such workers must vaccinated by January 4 or face mask requirements and weekly screening.
Attorneys for the Departments of Justice and Labor filed a response Monday in which they said halting the order would only prolong the COVID-19 pandemic and would “take the lives of dozens of people” or even hundreds of people a day.”
But the appeals court rejected that argument on Friday. Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt wrote that the stay was “certainly in the public interest.”
From economic uncertainty to workplace conflicts, the mere specter of the Commission has contributed to untold economic upheaval in recent months, Engelhardt writes.
At least 27 states filed legal challenges in at least six federal appeals courts after OSHA released its rules on Nov. 4, the federal government said in court filings. on Monday that the cases should be consolidated and that one of the circuit courts where the legal challenge was submitted should be randomly selected on November 16 to hear it.
The regulator’s attorneys said there was no reason to hold the mandate to vaccinate while the court where the final cases were located remains undetermined.
