Report: OSHA Develops Rule Forcing Private Companies to Implement Vaccine, Testing Requirements

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), under the direction of President Biden, has reportedly finished crafting a rule forcing private employers with over 100 employees to implement vaccine and testing requirements, weeks after the president made the announcement in September’s divisive coronavirus speech.

In a September 9 speech, which featured an angry Biden chastising unvaccinated Americans and warning that his “patience is wearing thin,” the president announced his decision to direct the Department of Labor to develop an emergency rule “to require all employers with 100 or more employees, that together employ over 80 million workers, to ensure their workforces are fully vaccinated or show a negative test at least once a week.”

For weeks, officials failed to provide a timeline on the rule as the Biden White House remained quiet, refusing to give specific details.

“We never gave an exact timeline so maybe we should have been more specific at the time. Obviously, it takes time and we want to make sure when we put these out they are clear and they provide guidance necessary to businesses,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in late September.

“I can’t give you a timeline. OSHA’s working on them but obviously, hopefully, we’ll know more in the coming weeks,” she added.

On Monday, CBS News’s Weijia Jiang reported that, nearly two months after making the announcement, OSHA had finally developed the rule and that it will go into effect in days”:

NEW: OSHA has finished developing a rule that compels companies with 100+ employees to require vaccines or regular testing. It also requires employers to provide paid time to workers to get vaccinated and to recover from any side effects. The rule will go into effect in days.

— Weijia Jiang (@weijia) November 1, 2021

The rule is expected to trigger a series of lawsuits. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is among the latest to vow to challenge the edict.

“Now we haven’t had the OSHA rule yet. That’s going to be challenged immediately,” he said during a press conference last week. “That OSHA rule’s going down. That is not going to be able to stand and so I’m confident of that.”

“The thing that really, really irks me if you look and you act like these mandates are somehow scientific-based, I don’t think anything that Biden has asked for or is demanding recognizes immunity” obtained through “prior infection,” he added.

“But at the end of the day, no coercion,” the governor continued. “Just, people should be able to make informed decisions.”