Federal contractor vaccine mandate on hold in 3 states

A federal district court in Kentucky has issued a preliminary order that places the federal contractor COVID-19 (coronavirus) vaccine mandate on hold in Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee. Until a full hearing can be held, the court prohibited the federal government from enforcing the vaccine mandate on federal contractors in these three states. The court ruled it was unlikely that President Biden had the authority to impose vaccination requirements on employees of federal contractors (Kentucky v. Biden, ED Ky, Nov. 2021).

Tips: Under Executive Order 14042, Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors, covered federal contractors are required to ensure employees receive their final vaccine doses by January 4, 2022 (thus becoming fully vaccinated by January 18, 2022), or else be tested weekly. For details, see our previous articles: ALERT: Guidance released on federal contractor vaccine mandate (9/28/21), More questions answered on federal contractor vaccine mandate (11/4/21), and FAQs updated for federal contractor vaccine mandate (11/18/21). For more information, see the COVID-19 Workplace Safety Guidance for Federal Contractors and Subcontractors and accompanying contractor FAQs on the Safer Federal Workforce website. Numerous lawsuits have been filed to challenge the federal contractor vaccine mandate, but so far, the Kentucky federal district court decision is the only one that has put it on hold. Vigilant will continue to monitor developments.