In September, President Biden announced that the federal government would require all Americans who work for private companies with 100 or more employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine mandate or face weekly testing. The Biden Administration is using the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) to impose the mandate under the guise of workplace safety. By imposing the mandate using the rarely-deployed emergency temporary standard (ETS), the Administration is working around the normal notice-and-comment procedures.
The OSHA COVID vaccine mandate is illegal
The OSHA vaccine mandate is the Biden Administration’s attempt to bypass Congress, the Constitution, and state governments to impose requirements on private businesses. Like the CDC’s eviction ban which was struck down by the Supreme Court in fall 2021, the COVID-19 vaccine mandate exceeds OSHA’s legal authority.
The Biden Administration’s argument in favor of using OSHA to implement a national vaccine mandate falls apart quickly:
- The mandate is not related to the workplace: OSHA’s authority is designed to protect against workplace-specific hazards. However, COVID-19 is a danger to society generally. It is likely to spread anywhere people come together, not just the workplace. Thus, the workplace is being used as a pretext for a larger goal: to increase vaccinations everywhere.
- The mandate does not address a “grave danger”: OSHA claims its authority to issue an ETS stating that COVID-19 is a “grave danger,” however OSHA concluded that all workplaces did not face a grave danger just a few months ago. Additionally, The consequences of COVID-19 depend significantly on the age and the health of the person that obtains the virus. Finally, it has taken OSHA over eight weeks to finalize its emergency standard. This delay undermines OSHA’s contention that it is addressing a “grave danger.”
The OSHA vaccine mandate will hurt Americans
The goal of the mandate is clear and it is not about workplace safety. The goal is to make it uncomfortable and expensive to be unvaccinated and thereby coerce people to get a medical treatment they already made clear they did not want.
Both American business owners and workers will be hurt by this illegal federal mandate. It places employers in the horrible, and possibly illegal, position of having to be the holder of their employees’ private health information. And, if they do not want their employees to incur the financial burden of weekly testing, the employer is forced to pay for expensive testing.
Vaccinated employees are forced to share their vaccination status with their employer. Unvaccinated employees may have to pay for expensive and difficult to obtain weekly COVID-19 tests just to keep their jobs — with the added requirement of wearing a mask, even in states without a mask mandate.
Americans are challenging the OSHA vaccine mandate and government overreach
Regardless of your views of the COVID vaccine, you should be outraged that the President is violating the U.S. Constitution he swore to uphold and trying to push his Administration’s agenda through at all costs.
Hard-working Americans like Brandon Trosclair have had enough and with the help of the Liberty Justice Center and Pelican Institute for Public Policy, are suing to strike down the illegal OSHA vaccine mandate and restore the fundamental rights of all Americans. Tyranny is never justified under any circumstances and Americans shouldn’t have to fear losing their jobs or their businesses over private health decisions made outside of work.
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