Effective January 26, 2022, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has withdrawn its Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) that would have required employers with 100 or more employees to ensure that their employees were vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing.  OSHA’s decision to scrap the ETS follows the United States Supreme Court’s January 13, 2022 decision that halted OSHA’s enforcement of the ETS.

OSHA has announced it will now proceed with regular rulemaking to adopt a permanent COVID-19 safety standard, to include a vaccination or testing requirement. OSHA’s decision to pursue a permanent standard imposes no current obligations on employers.  Employers must, however, continue to comply with all other federal, state, and local COVID-19 related laws which are not affected by OSHA’s withdrawal of the ETS.