Just yesterday, December 17th, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati allowed the OSHA rule requiring employers with 100 or more employees to require their employees to be vaccinated.
The rule had been blocked by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans since November 6th.
The Department of Labor has said that employers will now have until January 10th to comply with the rule. OSHA is giving employers until February 9th before it will start issuing citations. Opponents of the rule have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene, so all of this could change in an instant.
Other rules requiring vaccine mandates for federal contractors and for healthcare employers have been stayed (put on hold) by various courts, and the court decision yesterday does not directly affect them.
Making this more complicated is the new Texas law forbidding vaccine mandates, which on its face conflicts with the OSHA rule requiring employers with 100 or more employees to have such a mandate. To the extent there is a conflict, you could think the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution would require employers to follow the federal rule, but we will see what the courts say.
This is not over yet, so stay tuned.