The Conservative majority on the court ruled 6-3 to bar the vaccine-or-test mandate for employees of big businesses, saying the secretary of the Labor Department “lacked authority to impose the mandate.” The court added that the decision should be left up to Congress. Justices ruled 5-4 to maintain the healthcare worker mandate, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh voting to hold it in place.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration workplace mandate started on Jan. 4 and began enforcement on Monday, demanding unvaccinated employees of companies with 100 or more employees to begin wearing masks indoors. A vaccine-or-test requirement was expected to go into effect on Feb. 9 requiring workers who have not been fully vaccinated to be subjected to weekly testing.
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It would have applied to workplaces with at least 100 employees and affected some 84 million workers. It was designed to be enforced by employers.
A healthcare vaccine mandate implemented by the Department of Health and Human Services will stay in effect, requiring healthcare workers of facilities that take Medicare or Medicaid payments to be fully vaccinated.
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Opponents of the mandate included a coalition of Republican state governments and business groups claiming the federal government lacked decent authority to enforce the policies without approval from congress. Those against the mandate also argued it would lead to widespread staffing shortages.
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“Today’s decision is welcome relief for America’s small businesses, who are still trying to get their business back on track since the beginning of the pandemic,” said Karen Harned, the executive director of the National Federation of Independent Business, one of the plaintiffs joining the lawsuit.
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The OSHA mandate also carried penalties for employers who failed to enforce the requirement on staff, noting a nearly $14,000 fine would be imposed for each offense. It was not clear how OSHA intended to enforce the requirement on businesses.
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Federal health officials have said healthcare workers will be asked to get a single COVID-19 vaccine dose by January 27 and must be fully vaccinated by February 28 under the HHS mandate.
During oral arguments on Friday, Roberts conceded to Justice Department Principal Deputy Solicitor General Brian Fletcher's argument that the pandemic presents a more "acute" risk to patients than the risk associated with general workers or federal contractors.
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According to a majority of the Supreme Court, Biden had the law on his side when ordering healthcare workers to get vaccinated, but using a 51-year-old workplace safety statute to implement a vaccine-or-test requirement on all large employers was a bridge too far.
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