Joe Biden’s effort to force companies to impose “vaccine or test” mandates on their employees has been put on hold after a federal appeals court ordered a stay on the new rule.
A panel of three judges on the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled on Saturday that the president’s plans should be halted at least until Monday after finding that they posed “grave statutory and constitutional issues”.
The Biden administration has until 5pm on Monday to appeal the ruling and restart the planning process for the new rule, which is due to come into force on January 4 and is designed to boost the flagging US vaccination rate.
The appeal was lodged by the Republican states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, alongside a coalition of companies and religious groups.
Chris Carr, the attorney-general of Georgia, another Republican state that was not involved in the case, said in a statement: “The federal government has no authority to force healthcare decisions on Georgia’s companies and its employees under the guise of workplace safety. We are fighting back against this unprecedented abuse of power to stop this mandate before it causes irreparable harm to our state and its economy.”
Joe Biden announced the new “vaccine or test” mandate last month after several months of rising cases and falling vaccination rates. The details of the new mandate were unveiled last week by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which is in charge of policing and enforcing it.
Under the proposed rules, companies with at least 100 employees will have to show that their staff have either been fully vaccinated or are getting tested every week. Employees will not have to prove their vaccination status, but will be able to sign a self-attestation saying they have been vaccinated and understand they can be criminally punished for lying.
Many large companies have already imposed their own vaccine mandates, but business groups say smaller companies may struggle to do so. The Job Creators Network, a conservative business organisation, said it had lodged a separate appeal against the rule, calling it “unconstitutional” and “detrimental”.
The Biden administration insists it has the legal authority to override states’ concerns because the pandemic is a health emergency.
Seema Nanda, the most senior legal official at the labour department, said in a statement: “The Occupational Safety and Health Act explicitly gives Osha the authority to act quickly in an emergency where the agency finds that workers are subjected to a grave danger and a new standard is necessary to protect them.
“We are fully prepared to defend this standard in court.”