Vorys Attorneys Quoted in Columbus Business First Story About OSHA Emergency Rule Regarding COVID-19 Vaccinations and Testing

Bob Harris and Ben Shepler, partners in the Vorys Columbus office, were quoted throughout a Columbus Business First story titled “Columbus labor lawyer: Court challenges shouldn’t stop businesses from planning for, implementing Biden workplace vaccine, testing policy.”  The story featured comments from both attorneys about the Biden administration's COVID-19 vaccine and testing rules.

The story states:

“The new federal rules, which require workplaces with 100 or more employees to require vaccination for employees or implement a weekly Covid-19 testing protocol for unvaccinated employees, seem ‘very likely to end up before the U.S. Supreme Court,’ said Harris, a partner at Vorys Sater Seymour and Pease LLP’s Columbus office who specializes in labor and employment law.

‘While we wait for this to sort itself out … the best practice here is really for employers to prepare to implement the (rule) on its appointed schedule,’ Harris said Monday during a webinar on the new rule.

Harris said court cases seem likely to be sorted out relatively quickly given the short-term nature of the rules, which only last six months.”

The story also states:

“Ben Shepler, a partner in the Vorys’ Columbus office specializing in labor and employment, said employers need to remember that ‘while this is described by a lot of people as a vaccine mandate, it’s really not a mandate.’

‘What we have here actually is a choice,’ Shepler said, between vaccinations and a testing protocols. ‘Those who are trying to challenge this in court describe it as such because it’s advantageous to them to describe it as such.’

A mandate without the testing option would be harder for the Biden administration to defend in court, Shepler said.”

To read the entire story on the Columbus Business First website, click here.  (Subscription may be required).