What Does SCOTUS Vaccine Ruling Mean?

By Woody Jenkins, Editor, Central City News — WASHINGTON –– Last week the United States Supreme Court announced its 6-3 decision striking down a rule issued by OSHA requiring private employers with 100 or more employees to force their employees to be vaccinated for COVID.  

At the same time, the court announced its 5-4 decision upholding the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rule requiring health care facilities receiving Medicare or Medicaid funds to force their employees to be vaccinated.  Here are some important results of the rulings:

1. The rulings were not directly about constitutional rights but about the Supreme Court interpreting the statutory authority granted by Congress to two separate agencies — OSHA and the U.S. Department of Health.  The court found that the authority was granted to the Department of Health but not to OSHA.

2. The OSHA rules affecting large employers are dead, and the 100 million or more private employees who would have been mandated to take the vaccine will not be required to do so.

3. Large private employees could still require their employees to take the vaccine in “at-will employment” states.  However, if a private employer attempted to enforce such a rule on their own, the employees could still seek a medical exemption or a religious exemption.

4. Under the second ruling, hospitals and other health care facilities, which contract with the U.S. Dept. of Health for Medicare and Medicaid services, are required to enforce the vaccine mandate.  This is due to the language in the statutory grant of authority to the Dept. of Health and the fact that these facilities are accepting government funds.  However, employees could still seek a medical or religious exemption.

5. Earlier this week, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled in a separate case that wholly private employers in Louisiana (not acting on behalf of the state) could require employees to be vaccinated, since this is an “at-will employment” state.  This means employers can fire employees for any reason (except racial, sexual or religious discrimination).  However, such employees could still seek a medical or religious exemption.

6. In Louisiana, Article I, Section 5 (Right to Privacy) of the Louisiana Constitution appears to protect employees of the state, local government, and private employers acting on behalf of government from being required to take a vaccine against their will.

7. Even employers under the Dept. of Health mandate still have a lot of leeway to protect their employees from the mandatory vaccine if they desire to do so. They can do so within the context of the “plan” they adopt.