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February 20, 2025
On January 15, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) terminated its COVID-19 healthcare rulemaking.
By way of background, in June 2021, OSHA issued an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) to protect workers in healthcare settings from COVID-19. The ETS also served as a proposed rule on which OSHA requested public comments, and OSHA received the public’s input through May 2022. In December 2022, OSHA submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget a draft of a final COVID-19 rule.
In April 2023, former President Biden signed into law House Joint Resolution 7, which terminated the national emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thus, last month, OSHA terminated the COVID-19 healthcare rulemaking, finding that the most effective and efficient way to protect healthcare workers from occupational exposure to COVID-19 (as well as other infectious diseases) is to focus its resources on the completion of an Infectious Diseases rulemaking for healthcare.
This article is designed to provide one perspective regarding recent legal developments, and is not intended to serve as legal advice. Always consult an attorney with specific legal issues.
