WASHINGTON, Dec 18 – The U.S. agency on Saturday said it could begin issuing quotations to companies as soon as possible on January 10 for failing to comply with a national directive to vaccinate or test COVID-19 regularly, a U.S. Supreme Court faces a policy case.
The announcement came a day after the U.S. Court of Appeals reversed Biden’s administrative policy requiring large corporations to ensure that workers were vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit weekly tests.
Another court in November had blocked a law from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and a legal battle is expected to continue in the Supreme Court.
On Saturday, OSHA said it would not cite companies for any form of non-compliance with the law before Jan. 10 “to provide employers with sufficient time to comply.” OSHA also said quotes about the COVID-19 test will not start before Feb. 9.
The OSHA Act applies to businesses with at least 100 employees and includes 80 million American employees.
The law has caused significant setbacks, especially in the Republican-based provinces. The Republicans hope to make the popular frustration with COVID-19 security measures a major theme in political campaigns ahead of the November 2022 general election, in which the Republic hopes to take control of Congress.
President Joe Biden said the vaccination campaign was important in fighting the epidemic, which has killed more than 750,000 Americans and put economic strain on the economy.
Biden will announce new measures to combat the epidemic on Tuesday, a White House spokesman said.
The debate is aimed at public health officials fighting the “wave” of coronavirus infection in the United States as the highly infectious Omicron virus spreads rapidly around the world.