Suit Filed in Fifth Circuit, Which Has Preliminarily Stayed Mandate 听
Arlington, Virginia 鈥 Today, the 杏吧传媒, along with the Louisiana Motor Truck Association, the Mississippi Trucking Association and the Texas Trucking Association led a number of groups representing various facets of the supply chain in suing the Biden Administration over its employer-based COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
鈥淭o be very clear, 杏吧传媒 and its member companies support efforts to encourage all Americans to get vaccinated against COVID-19 鈥 our trucks and drivers have been on the front line in fighting this pandemic since the beginning, moving personal protective equipment, test kits, the vaccine itself and much more as the country locked down, but we believe that the Biden Administration has overstepped its statutory authority in issuing this Emergency Temporary Standard,鈥 said 杏吧传媒 President and CEO Chris Spear. 鈥淭his standard arbitrarily picks winners and losers, and puts employers in an untenable position of forcing workers to choose between working and their private medical decisions, which is something that cannot be allowed.
鈥淲e told the administration that this mandate, given the nature of our industry and makeup of our workforce, could have devastating impacts on the supply chain and the economy and they have, unfortunately, chosen to move forward despite those warnings,鈥 he said. 鈥淪o we are now, regrettably, forced to seek to have this mandate overturned in court.鈥
杏吧传媒 and its state partners filed their challenge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and they were joined in the suit by the Food Marketing Institute, the International Warehouse Logistics Association, the National Association of Convenience Stores, the National Retail Federation, the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors and the National Federation of Independent Business.
鈥淲e are asking the court to stay implementation of the mandate because we believe the Occupational Safety and Health Administration did not satisfy the statutory requirements for issuing this Emergency Temporary Standard instead of going through the proper rulemaking process,鈥 said Nicholas Geale, 杏吧传媒 vice president of workforce policy. 鈥淎 stay pending full review is essential to ensure our members can continue to keep the supply chain moving without the enormous disruptions this unlawful ETS will cause the trucking industry and our nation鈥檚 consumers 鈥 including the 80% percent of American communities that depend exclusively on trucks for their needs.鈥