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The OSHA COVID-19 Case and the Scope of the Occupational Safety and Health Act

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2022

Mark A. Rothstein
Mark A. Rothstein*
Affiliation:
UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE IN LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, USA
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Abstract

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued an emergency temporary standard (ETS) for COVID-19 applicable to private sector employers with 100 or more employees. Among other things, the ETS required employers either to mandate employee vaccination or weekly testing and wearing masks.

Keywords

Congressional Review ActCOVID-19Emergency Temporary StandardEmployer MandatesMajor Questions DoctrineOSHAVaccination
Type
Columns: Currents in Contemporary Bioethics
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 50 , Issue 2: Commercial Speech and Commercial Determinants of Health , Summer 2022 , pp. 368 - 374
Copyright
© 2022 The Author(s)

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Footnotes

About This Column

Mark A. Rothstein serves as the section editor for Currents in Contemporary Ethics. Professor Rothstein is the Herbert F. Boehl Chair of Law and Medicine and the Director of the Institute for Bioethics, Health Policy and Law at the University of Louisville School of Medicine in Kentucky. ([email protected])

References

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Pursuant to section 18 of the OSH Act, 29 U.S.C. § 667, states may elect to submit a state plan for approval by OSHA. States having their own legislation, standards, enforcement, and adjudication procedures are able to displace federal OSHA jurisdiction. As of 2022, there are approved state plans in the following jurisdictions: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming. See M.A. Rothstein, supra note 21, at ch. 3.Google Scholar
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