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  Nos. 21A243, 21A244, 21A245, 21A246, 21A247, 21A248, 21A249,
   21A250, 21A251, 21A252, 21A258, 21A259, 21A260 and 21A267


     In the Supreme Court of the United States

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF INDEPENDENT BUSINESS, ET AL.,

                                                    Applicants,

                                 v.

  OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION,
                      ET AL.,

                                                  Respondents.


      IN RE: OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH
    ADMINISTRATION, INTERIM FINAL RULE: COVID-19
  VACCINATION AND TESTING; EMERGENCY TEMPORARY
STANDARD, 86 FED. REG. 61402, ISSUED ON NOVEMBER 5, 2021

UNION PETITIONERS’ BRIEF IN OPPOSITION TO EMERGENCY
          APPLICATION FOR IMMEDIATE STAY

Harold Craig Becker                   Randy Rabinowitz
AFL-CIO                                Counsel of Record
815 Black Lives Matter Plaza, N.W.    P.O. Box 3769
Washington, D.C. 20006                OSH Law Project, LLC
(202) 637-5310                        Washington, D.C. 20027
cbecker@aflcio.org                    (202) 256-4080
                                      randy@oshlaw.org
Counsel for American Federation of
Labor and Congress of Industrial      Counsel for the AFL-CIO and
Organizations (AFL-CIO)               United Food and Commercial
                                      Workers International Union,
                                      AFL-CIO
Andrew D. Roth                           Victoria L. Bor
Bredhoff & Kaiser, PLLC                  Jonathan D. Newman
805 Fifteenth Street, N.W., Suite 1000   Esmeralda Aguilar
Washington, D.C. 20005                   Sherman Dunn, P.C.
(202) 842-2600                           900 Seventh Street, NW, Suite 1000
aroth@bredhoff.com                       Washington, D.C. 20001
                                         (202) 785-9300
Counsel for the AFL-CIO and United
                                         bor@shermandunn.com
Food and Commercial Workers
                                         newman@shermandunn.com
International Union, AFL-CIO
                                         aguilar@shermandunn.com
Peter J. Ford                            Counsel for North America’s Building
United Food & Commercial                 Trades Unions and Massachusetts
   Workers International Union           Building Trades Council
1775 K Street, N.W., Suite 700
Washington, D.C. 20006-1598              Nicole Horberg Decter
(202) 223-3111                           Donald J. Siegel
pford@ufcw.org                           Segal Roitman, LLP
                                         33 Harrison Avenue, 7th Floor
Counsel for United Food and
                                         Boston, MA 02111
Commercial Workers International
                                         (617) 742-0208
Union, AFL-CIO
                                         ndecter@segalroitman.com
Nicole Berner                            dsiegel@segalroitman.com
Service Employees                        Counsel for Massachusetts Building
   International Union                   Trades Council
1800 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036                   Keith R. Bolek
(202) 730-7383                           Ellen Boardman
nicole.berner@seiu.org                   O’Donoghue & O’Donoghue LLP
                                         5301 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W., Suite 800
Allyson L. Belovin                       Washington, D.C. 20015
Levy Ratner                              (202) 362-0041
80 Eighth Ave., Floor 8                  kbolek@odonoghuelaw.com
New York, NY 10011                       eboardman@odonoghuelaw.com
(212) 627-8100
abelovin@levyratner.com                  Counsel for United Association of
                                         Journeymen and Apprentices of the
Counsel for Local 32BJ, Service          Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of
Employees International Union            the United States and Canada, AFL-CIO
David A. Rosenfeld
Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld
1375 55th Street
Emeryville, CA 94608
(510) 337-1001
drosenfeld@unioncounsel.net
Counsel for National Association of
Broadcast Employees &
Technicians, the Broadcasting and
Cable Television Workers Sector of
the Communications Workers of
America, Local 51, AFL-CIO;
Media Guild of the West, the News
Guild- Communications Workers of
America, AFL-CIO, Local 39213;
and the Union of American
Physicians and Dentists

Amy L. Rosenberger
Irwin Aronson
Willig, Williams & Davidson
1845 Walnut Street, 24th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 656-3600
arosenberger@wwdlaw.com
iaronson@wwdlaw.com

Counsel to American Federation of
Teachers Pennsylvania
                  Corporate Disclosure Statement

     Neither the AFL-CIO nor any of the unions filing this Brief are

corporations and thus neither the AFL-CIO nor any of the unions have

a parent corporation or issue any stock.




                                    i
                                       Table of Contents

Corporate Disclosure Statement ........................................................ i

Introduction ............................................................................................ 1

Summary of the Argument................................................................... 4

Argument ................................................................................................. 6

  I.       Congress Has Expressly Provided OSHA Clear Authority
           to Issue an Emergency Temporary Standard to Address
           Occupational Exposures to the Coronavirus; the ETS,
           Therefore, Does Not Present Any Issue Under The
           Major Question or Non-Delegation Doctrine ....................... 6

  II.      Substantial Evidence Supports OSHA’s Decision
           to Issue an ETS ......................................................................... 27

  III. The Balance of Equities Favors Allowing the ETS
       to Remain in Effect.................................................................. 31

Conclusion ............................................................................................. 33




                                                     ii
                                    Table of Authorities
                                                                                              Page(s)

Cases

Alabama Ass’n of Realtors v. Department of Health &
  Human Services,
  141 S. Ct. 2485 (2021) ............................................................... 7, 21, 22

Am. Dental Ass’n v. Martin,
  984 F.2d 823 (7th Cir. 1993) ......................................................... 12, 15

Am. Textile Mfrs. Inst. v. Donovan,
  452 U.S. 490 (1981) ....................................................................... 29, 30

Asbestos Info. Ass’n v. OSHA,
  727 F.2d 415 (5th Cir. 1984) ................................................... 24, 27, 29

BST Holdings, LLC v. OSHA,
  No. 21-60845, 2021 WL 5279381 (5th Cir. Nov. 12, 2021)................... 6

Farm Worker Just. Fund, Inc. v. Brock,
  811 F.2d 613 (D.C. Cir. 1987), vacated as moot, 817 F.2d 890
  (D.C. Cir.) ...................................................................................... 12, 16

Fla. Peach Growers Ass’n v. U.S. Dep’t of Labor,
  489 F.2d 120 (5th Cir. 1974) ............................................................... 28

Forging Indus. Ass’n v. Sec’y of Labor,
  773 F.2d 1436 (4th Cir. 1985) ............................................................. 15

Free Enter. Fund v. Pub. Co. Acct. Oversight Bd.,
  561 U.S. 477 (2010) ............................................................................. 19

Gade v. Nat’l Solid Wastes Mgmt. Ass’n,
  505 U.S. 88 (1992) ......................................................................... 16, 17

Indus. Union Dep’t, AFL-CIO v. Am. Petroleum Inst.,
  448 U.S. 607 (1980) ....................................................................... 23, 28

In re AFL-CIO,
   No. 20-1158 (D.C. Cir. June 11, 2020).................................................. 2

                                                   iii
Int'l Union, UAW v. Donovan,
   590 F. Supp. 747 (D.D.C. 1984), adopted, 756 F.2d 162 (D.C.
   Cir. 1985)............................................................................................. 23

J. W. Hampton, Jr., Co. v. United States,
   276 U.S. 394 (1928) ............................................................................. 25

Mistretta v. United States,
  488 U.S. 361 (1989) ............................................................................. 25

Mutual Film Corp. v. Indus. Comm’n of Ohio,
  236 U.S. 230 (1915) ............................................................................. 26

Steel Inst. of N.Y. v. City of New York,
   716 F.3d 31 (2d Cir. 2013) .................................................................. 17

Taylor Diving & Salvage Co. v. U.S. Dep’t of Labor,
  599 F.2d 622 (5th Cir. 1979) ............................................................... 20

UFCW v. OSHA,
  No. 21-1143 (D.C. Cir.) ......................................................................... 2

Union Bridge Co. v. United States,
  204 U.S. 364 (1907) ............................................................................. 25

Whitman v. Am. Trucking Ass’ns,
  531 U.S. 457 (2001) ............................................................................. 23

Yakus v. United States,
  321 U.S. 414 (1944) ............................................................................. 25

Statutes

29 U.S.C. § 651 .................................................................................... 3, 30

29 U.S.C. § 652 .................................................................................. 23, 24

29 U.S.C. § 654 .......................................................................................... 8

29 U.S.C. § 655 ................................................................................ passim

29 U.S.C. § 658 .......................................................................................... 8


                                                     iv
29 U.S.C. § 669 ........................................................................ 4, 18, 19, 24

29 U.S.C. § 671a ...................................................................................... 12

Pub. L. No. 102-170, 105 Stat. 1107 (1991) ............................................ 11

Pub. L. No. 106-430, 114 Stat. 1901 (2000) ............................................ 11

Pub. L. No. 117-2, § 2101, 135 Stat. 4 (2021) ....................................... 4, 8

Other Authorities

29 C.F.R. § 1910.34 ................................................................................. 21

29 C.F.R. § 1910.132................................................................................ 21

29 C.F.R. § 1910.155................................................................................ 21

29 C.F.R. § 1910.1025.............................................................................. 21

29 C.F.R. § 1910.1053.............................................................................. 21

29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200.............................................................................. 21

29 C.F.R. § 1926.1153.............................................................................. 21

Commercial Diving Operations, Occupational Safety and Health
  Requirements,
  42 Fed. Reg. 37650 (July 22, 1977)..................................................... 20

Exec. Order No. 13,999, Protecting Worker Health and Safety,
  86 Fed. Reg. 7211 (Jan. 21, 2021)..................................................... 4, 9

Heat Injury & Illness Prevention in Outdoor & Indoor Work Settings,
  86 Fed. Reg. 59309 (Oct. 27, 2021) ..................................................... 16

COVID-19 Vaccination & Testing; Emergency Temporary Standard,
  86 Fed. Reg. 61402 (Nov. 5, 2021) .............................................. passim

COVID-19 Critical Indicators, Tennessee Department of Health,
  https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/health/documents/cedep/n
  ovel-coronavirus/CriticalIndicatorReport.pdf .................................... 13



                                                    v
Laboratory-Confirmed COVID-19-Associated Hospitalizations,
  U.S. Centers for Disease Control,
  https://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/COVIDNet/COVID19_5.html ..................... 28

October, November, December COVID-19 Outbreak Data,
  California Dep’t of Health & Human Servs. Open Data,
  https://data.chhs.ca.gov/dataset/covid-19-outbreak-
  data/resource/a266496d-7a23-4426-b521-d7a19c659106 .................. 14

OSHA, Statement on the Status of the OSHA COVID-19
  Healthcare ETS (Dec. 27, 2021),
  https://www.osha.gov/coronavirus/ets .................................................. 2

Outbreak Reporting, State of Michigan,
  https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus/0,9753,7-406-
  98163_98173_102057---,00.html......................................................... 13

Statewide COVID-19 Outbreak Report, Washington State Dep’t
  of Health,
  https://www.doh.wa.gov/Portals/1/Documents/1600/coronavir
  us/data-tables/StatewideCOVID-19OutbreakReport.pdf .................. 14




                                            vi
                             Introduction

     The American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial

Organizations (“AFL-CIO”) and the eight national, regional and local

labor organizations that join this Brief,1 all of which were petitioners in

the Court of Appeals and supported the government’s motion to dissolve

the Fifth Circuit’s stay (“the Unions”), represent workers protected by the

Occupational Safety and Health Act (“OSH Act”) in every industry and

in every region of the country – meat packers, grocery store cashiers,

construction workers, teachers, security guards, broadcast technicians,

and myriad others.

     Since the pandemic began, the Unions have repeatedly urged the

Occupational Safety & Health Administration (“OSHA”) to adopt

mandatory rules to protect workers from the grave danger COVID-19,



1  American Federation of Teachers Pennsylvania; Massachusetts
Building Trades Council; Media Guild of the West, The News Guild-
Communications Workers of America, Local 39213; National Association
of Broadcast Technicians – The Broadcasting & Cable Television
Workers Section of the Communications Workers of America; North
America’s Building Trades Unions; Service Employees International
Union, Local 32BJ; United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices
of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the United States and
Canada; United Food and Commercial Workers International Union; and
Union of American Physicians and Dentists.


                                    1
the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, poses at the

workplace. In March 2020, the AFL-CIO petitioned OSHA to adopt an

Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”) covering COVID-19. See Per

Curiam Order, In re AFL-CIO, No. 20-1158 (D.C. Cir. June 11, 2020).

When OSHA failed to adopt a specific standard, reasoning at that time

that the grave danger could be addressed with guidance coupled with

enforcement of existing standards and the Act’s general duty clause, the

AFL-CIO sought a writ of mandamus to compel the agency to issue an

ETS. Id. Finally, after OSHA issued an ETS covering only healthcare

workers in June of this year, the AFL-CIO and the United Food and

Commercial Workers Union (“UFCW”) filed a petition for review, seeking

to compel the agency to extend the standard’s protections to all workers.

UFCW v. OSHA, No. 21-1143 (D.C. Cir.). 2




2 That action has been held in abeyance pending the resolution of this

matter. However, on December 27, 2021, OSHA announced that the ETS
was no longer in effect.      See OSHA, Statement on the Status
of the OSHA COVID-19 Healthcare ETS (Dec. 27, 2021),
https://www.osha.gov/coronavirus/ets. OSHA explained that it “intends
to continue to work expeditiously to issue a final standard that will
protect healthcare workers from COVID-19 hazards.” Id.


                                   2
     The Unions petitioned for review of the ETS at issue here in the

court of appeals not because OSHA lacks authority to issue this standard,

but instead because OSHA has not mandated all the steps necessary to

address this grave danger.         The Unions oppose the emergency

applications for an immediate stay because the ETS is necessary to

protect the workers they represent, and millions of others, from the grave

danger COVID-19 currently poses in their workplaces.           In addition,

accepting the arguments the Petitioners3 advance would undermine

OSHA’s ability to fulfill its statutory duty “to assure so far as possible

every working man and woman in the Nation safe and healthful working

conditions and to preserve our human resources,” 29 U.S.C. § 651(b), not

only with respect to the grave danger of COVID-19, and not only with

respect to other infectious diseases that may pose dangers in the

workplace, but also with respect to many other occupational hazards

American workers now face and will face in the future. The Unions

therefore strongly oppose the applications for an immediate stay.




3 We use the term “Petitioners” to refer to all the parties that have sought

a stay in this Court.


                                     3
                      Summary of the Argument

     We proceed in three parts below. First, we demonstrate that the

Sixth Circuit correctly concluded that Congress has expressly provided

OSHA with clear authority to issue standards governing infectious

diseases that pose a hazard in the workplace, including, specifically,

COVID-19, and to do so in the kind of exigent circumstances workers

currently face by issuing an ETS. Most recently, Congress appropriated

funds to OSHA “for enforcement activities related to COVID-19.”

American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Pub. L. No. 117-2, § 2101, 135 Stat.

4, 30. Congress thereby plainly recognized that COVID-19 is a workplace

hazard subject to regulation by OSHA. Moreover, Congress made the

appropriation after the President had ordered OSHA to “consider

whether any emergency temporary standards on COVID-19 . . . are

necessary.”   Exec. Order No. 13,999, Protecting Worker Health and

Safety, § 2(a), 86 Fed. Reg. 7211 (Jan. 21, 2021). And Congress previously

expressly recognized OSHA’s authority to require both vaccination and

medical examination except of workers with religious objections. See 29

U.S.C. § 669(a)(5).   Additional congressional actions and decades of

agency practice provide further support for OSHA’s issuance of the ETS.



                                    4
In light of Congress’ clear delegation of authority to OSHA, the ETS does

not present any issue under either the major question or non-delegation

doctrine.

     Second, we demonstrate that the court below correctly concluded

that OSHA satisfied Congress’ directions by reasonably finding, based on

substantial evidence, that COVID-19 is both an “agent[] determined to

be . . . physically harmful” and a “new hazard[]” that is exposing

employees “to grave danger” and that the steps the ETS requires

employers to take are “necessary to protect employees from such danger.”

29 U.S.C. § 655(c)(1).

     Finally, we show that the balance of equities and the public interest

strongly favor protecting workers from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic

and that any stay of the ETS will contribute to a substantial increase in

death and illness among working Americans.




                                   5
                              Argument

I.   Congress Has Expressly Provided OSHA Clear Authority to
     Issue an Emergency Temporary Standard to Address
     Occupational Exposures to the Coronavirus; the ETS,
     Therefore, Does Not Present Any Issue Under The Major
     Question or Non-Delegation Doctrine

     In Section 6(c) of the OSH Act, Congress directed OSHA to forgo

notice and comment rulemaking and issue a standard, effective

immediately but for a limited period of time, when it determines that

workplace conditions expose employees to a “grave danger” from

exposure to toxic or physically harmful “substances or agents,” or from

“new hazards,” and an ETS is “necessary” to protect employees from that

danger.   29 U.S.C. § 655(c)(1).   Congress crafted this Section with

“precision,” BST Holdings, LLC v. OSHA, No. 21-60845, 2021 WL

5279381, at *4 (5th Cir. Nov. 12, 2021), clearly and unequivocally

granting OSHA emergency authority to respond expeditiously when

workers face grave dangers.

     Section 6(c) represents Congress’ recognition that OSHA would

confront situations that the legislative branch did not and could not

anticipate. That is precisely what OSHA has faced with the COVID-19

pandemic.   OSHA has found that workplace exposure to the novel



                                   6
coronavirus – both a physically harmful agent and a new hazard – poses

a grave danger to unvaccinated workers and has mandated that

employers address workplace exposure to the coronavirus by requiring

their employees either to be vaccinated or to be tested weekly and wear

face coverings while at work. 4

     Petitioners’ central contention is that the coronavirus is a

ubiquitous public health problem, control of which Congress did not

authorize OSHA, a workplace safety agency, to address through an ETS.

This contention ignores the fact that Congress has not only plainly given

this occupational safety and health agency authority to address viruses

and other contagious diseases that exist both inside and outside the

workplace, but also has specifically confirmed OSHA’s authority to issue

an ETS to protect employees from the coronavirus. Moreover, the ETS’s

purpose is to encourage reliance on the most effective methods of

protecting workers from contracting the virus while in the workplace,




4 As the Sixth Circuit found below, employers also have a third option, to

permit employees to work remotely. Slip op. at 7, Nat’l Fed’n of Indep.
Bus. Emergency Application, App 1 at 233, U.S. No. 21A244 (“App.”).


                                    7
even if the protection afforded by one of the options given to employers –

requiring vaccination – extends outside the workplace.

     A.    Congress unambiguously and specifically recognized OSHA’s

authority to protect workers from occupational exposure to the

coronavirus, including by issuing an ETS, when in 2021 it appropriated

$100,000,000.00 to OSHA in the American Rescue Plan (“ARA”) to be

used “to carry out COVID-19 related worker protection activities.”

American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Pub. L. No. 117-2, § 2101, 135 Stat.

4, 30.    Congress specifically allocated $10,000,000.00 of the ARA

appropriation “for enforcement activities related to COVID-19.”        Id.

Congress’ appropriation of funds “for enforcement activities related to

COVID-19” presupposes that OSHA has authority to regulate

occupational exposure to COVID-19. That is because employers have two

duties under the OSH Act that the agency can enforce: to comply with

OSHA standards and regulations, 29 U.S.C. § 654(a)(2), and to provide

employment and places of employment “free from recognized hazards,”

29 U.S.C. § 654(a)(1). OSHA can only engage in “enforcement activities,”

i.e., issue citations to an employer, when the employer violates one of

these two duties. See 29 U.S.C. § 658(a) (Secretary has authority to cite



                                    8
employers for violating a standard, regulation, or requirement of the Act).

Thus, the appropriation for enforcement recognizes OSHA’s authority to

address COVID-19 as a workplace hazard.

     Moreover, when Congress passed the ARA in March of 2021, OSHA

was actively addressing workplace COVID-19 exposure by providing

guidance and enforcing existing standards and the statute’s general duty

clause. 5 In addition, pursuant to an Executive Order President Biden

issued on January 21, 2021, directing OSHA to “consider whether any

emergency temporary standards on COVID-19 . . . are necessary,” the

agency was already evaluating the need for one or more ETSs. Exec.

Order No. 13,999, Protecting Worker Health and Safety, § 2(a), 86 Fed.

Reg. 7211 (Jan. 21, 2021). Congress was undoubtedly aware of this

executive branch activity. The legislation is thus a clear congressional



5 From the onset of the pandemic, including under President Trump and

Secretary of Labor Scalia, OSHA has exercised its authority to address
the workplace hazard posed by COVID-19, initially through guidance,
reporting requirements, and enforcement actions based on existing
standards not specifically aimed at COVID-19 and the Act’s general duty
clause. COVID-19 Vaccination & Testing; Emergency Temporary
Standard, 86 Fed. Reg. 61,402, 61,429-30, 61,440-43 (Nov. 5, 2021)
(“Pmbl-”) (App. 29-30; 40-43). Having determined that those earlier
efforts were ineffective, OSHA determined it was necessary to issue this
ETS. Pmbl-61,430-31 (App. 30-31).


                                    9
finding that COVID-19 is a workplace hazard OSHA may address,

including by issuing an ETS. The Petitioners all ignore this critical piece

of legislation, and for good reason: Their arguments that OSHA lacks

authority over viruses, which pose hazards both inside and outside the

workplace, including COVID-19, cannot stand once Congress’ clear,

express direction to the agency is considered.

     B.    The ARA’s recognition of OSHA’s authority to address

workplace exposure to this virus is entirely consistent with both the

terms of the OSH Act itself and longstanding congressional and

administrative action. Section 6(c) requires OSHA to issue an ETS if it

“determines . . . that employees are exposed to grave danger from

exposure to . . . agents determined to be . . . physically harmful or from

new hazards.” 29 U.S.C. § 655(c)(1). As the Sixth Circuit explained,

there can be little question that the coronavirus, “[a]n agent that causes

bodily harm, . . . falls squarely within the scope of” this section. Slip op.

at 10 (App. 236) (a virus is an “agent,” i.e., “a chemically, physically, or

biologically active principle,” that is “‘physically harmful,’ (i.e., causing

bodily harm)” (citation omitted)).     It is also unquestionably a “new




                                     10
hazard,” as “SARS-CoV-2 was not known to exist [in the U.S.] until

January 2020.” Pmbl-61,406 (App. 6). 6

     OSHA has a long history of seeking to prevent the spread of

infectious diseases in the workplace using a variety of regulatory tools,

Slip op. at 12-13 (App. 238-9), without challenge from the regulated

community or any evidence of disapproval by Congress. Indeed, since

1970, Congress has repeatedly affirmed its understanding that OSHA

may address infectious diseases by (1) twice directing the agency to act

more forcefully in protecting against workplace exposures to bloodborne

pathogens, see Departments of Labor, Health & Human Services, &

Education, & Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1992, Pub. L. No.

102-170, 105 Stat. 1107 (1991) (directing OSHA to finalize rulemaking

on bloodborne pathogen standard); Needlestick Safety & Prevention Act,

Pub. L. No. 106-430, 114 Stat. 1901 (2000) (directing OSHA to strengthen

its bloodborne pathogens standard and providing language for the

regulatory text), and (2) adding the Workers Family Protection Act to the




6 Petitioners’ argument that a hazard cannot be both “new” and
“recognized” is misplaced, as even a “new” hazard must be recognized as
such before the agency can take action to ameliorate its effects.


                                   11
OSH Act to protect the health of workers and their families by, inter alia,

studying “issues related to the contamination of workers’ homes with

hazardous chemicals and substances, including infectious agents,

transported from the [workers’] workplaces . . . .” Slip op. at 11-12 (App

237-8), quoting 29 U.S.C. § 671a(c)(1)(A) (emphasis supplied by the

court).7

      C.   Petitioners’ argument that exposure to the coronavirus is a

public-health problem traditionally regulated by the states, not an

occupational health issue within OSHA’s purview, does not withstand

scrutiny. OSHA found that SARS-CoV-2 “is readily transmissible in

workplaces” and although “COVID-19 is not exclusively an occupational

disease . . . transmission can and does occur in workplaces.” Pmbl-61,411

(App. 11). While the risk of transmission may vary by type of workplace,



7 Courts have also affirmed OSHA’s authority to regulate exposure to

infectious diseases. See, e.g., Farm Worker Just. Fund, Inc. v. Brock, 811
F.2d 613, 615, 633 (D.C. Cir. 1987), vacated as moot, 817 F.2d 890 (D.C.
Cir.) (finding OSHA had unreasonably delayed issuing a field sanitation
standard to protect workers against “transmission of fecal-born bacterial
and viral diseases and other debilitating parasitic infections.”); Am.
Dental Ass’n v. Martin, 984 F.2d 823, 826 (7th Cir. 1993) (Although
contesting the standard’s application to their particular workplaces, the
petitioners did not even “contend that there should be no regulation of
bloodborne pathogens.”).


                                    12
“OSHA . . . expects transmission to occur in diverse workplaces all across

the country.” Id.

     OSHA found what even a cursory reading of the newspaper during

the pandemic reveals – that the workplace has been a primary and a

devastating source of exposure to the coronavirus. Slip op. 21-22 (App.

247-8). In addition to the workplace outbreaks detailed in the preamble

to the ETS, Pmbl-61,411-17 (App. 11-17), and the Sixth Circuit’s opinion

below, Slip op. at 24 (App. 250), more recent data illustrate that

workplace clusters of COVID-19 cases continue unabated. In Michigan,

for the week ending December 20, there were 99 new outbreaks in

workplace settings such as long-term care, K-12 education, corrections,

and health care and 638 ongoing outbreaks in those settings. 8 Tennessee

reported 250 active COVID-19 outbreaks on December 20, 144 of which

were in work settings. 9 In Washington State, 80 of 84 new outbreaks



8 Outbreak Reporting, State of Michigan, https://www.michigan.gov/
coronavirus/0,9753,7-406-98163_98173_102057---,00.html (Updated on
Mondays at 3pm - last updated Dec. 20, 2021).
9 COVID-19 Critical Indicators, Tennessee Department of Health,
https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/health/documents/cedep/novel-
coronavirus/CriticalIndicatorReport.pdf (last updated Dec. 20, 2021).
Work settings include all except community settings.


                                   13
reported during the week of December 5-11 were in workplace settings

outside of health care, a 175% increase in two weeks.10 California has

reported 1,474 outbreaks, broken down by industry sector, in the last

three months alone.11 While some of these reports may include infections

among people who are not employees (customers, for example), the point

remains that being in the workplace creates a heightened risk of

exposure to the coronavirus and that workplace outbreaks of COVID-19

infections are widespread.

     The Sixth Circuit correctly concluded that even though exposure to

the coronavirus is not unique to the workplace, OSHA may regulate to

protect workers from occupational exposure to the virus. Slip op. at 13

(App. 239); Pmbl-61,407 (App. 7).      In fact, OSHA has historically

regulated workplace exposures to a variety of hazards that are present


10 These work settings include education, assisted living, manufacturing

and construction (industrial settings), childcare/youth programs, health
care, jail/prison/detention centers and food industry and retail.
Statewide COVID-19 Outbreak Report, Washington State Dep’t of Health,
https://www.doh.wa.gov/Portals/1/Documents/1600/coronavirus/data-
tables/StatewideCOVID-19OutbreakReport.pdf (Dec. 25, 2021).
11 October, November, December COVID-19 Outbreak Data, California

Dep’t of Health & Human Servs. Open Data,
https://data.chhs.ca.gov/dataset/covid-19-outbreak-data/resource/
a266496d-7a23-4426-b521-d7a19c659106 (last updated Dec. 22, 2021).


                                  14
both in the workplace and in society more generally, and courts have

upheld its authority to do so. See Forging Indus. Ass’n v. Sec’y of Labor,

773 F.2d 1436, 1442 (4th Cir. 1985) (en banc) (upholding OSHA

regulation of workplace noise to prevent hearing loss); Am. Dental Ass’n

v. Martin, 984 F.2d at 826 (“infectious character of HIV and HBV

[hepatitis B] warrants even on narrowly economic grounds more

regulation than would be necessary in the case of a noncommunicable

disease”). So long as its standard is aimed at protecting workers against

a risk of exposure from employment or at a place of employment, OSHA

acts within its statutory authority. The fact that non-occupational risks

exist alongside occupational risks does not limit OSHA’s obligation to

protect workers. Any holding to the contrary would call into question the

validity of dozens of long-established workplace protections, such as fire

protection and electrical safety protocols; requirements for ladders and

motor vehicles; limits on exposure to silica, asbestos, and lead; and

requirements for labeling of hazardous chemicals, to name a few.12




12 OSHA has issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on heat

stress, Heat Injury & Illness Prevention in Outdoor & Indoor Work
Settings, 86 Fed. Reg. 59309 (Oct. 27, 2021), another hazard that exists


                                   15
      D.     Nor does the fact that states have traditionally regulated

public health mean that OSHA is precluded from regulating the

occupational risk of contracting COVID-19. To the contrary, in enacting

the OSH Act, Congress recognized that it was bringing “the Federal

Government into a field that traditionally had been occupied by the

States,” but did so to “establish[] a system of uniform federal occupational

health and safety standards.” Gade v. Nat’l Solid Wastes Mgmt. Ass’n,

505 U.S. 88, 96, 102 (1992). See also Farmworker Just. Fund, 811 F.2d

at 625 (“Congress, in adopting the OSH Act, decided that the federal

government would take the lead in regulating the field of occupational

health.”).

      Congress adopted the OSH Act to level the playing field,

“subject[ing] employers and employees to only one set of regulations.”

Gade, 505 U.S. at 99. The need for uniform, minimum federal standards

is particularly acute in the case of COVID-19 because employers are

facing inconsistent requirements, with some states mandating vaccine or




both within and outside of work. That effort, too, would be undermined
if Petitioners’ arguments prevail.


                                    16
masking policies and other states prohibiting them. Pmbl-61,445; 61508-

10 (App. 45; 108-10).

     Moreover, the ETS does not completely displace state public health

regulation. OSH Act standards apply only “to employers and employees

in workplaces,” Steel Inst. of N.Y. v. City of New York, 716 F.3d 31, 33 (2d

Cir. 2013); they do not preempt non-conflicting state laws “of general

applicability” that address “public safety as well as occupational safety

concerns,” Gade, 505 U.S. at 104, 107. Thus, state COVID-19-related

laws protecting the public can co-exist with the ETS under the

preemption principles this Court outlined in Gade. Pmbl-61,509 (App.

109). In short, the fact that the states have authority to regulate public

health generally has no bearing on OSHA’s authority to protect workers

from grave dangers that make their employment or places of employment

unsafe.

     E.    Not only is OSHA specifically authorized to regulate

occupational exposure to viruses, including the coronavirus, Congress

also specifically recognized that OSHA has authority to mandate both

vaccination and medical examination when necessary to protect workers.




                                    17
And OSHA’s authority to require protective clothing, such as face

coverings, has never been questioned.

     Section 20(a)(5) of the OSH Act provides “[n]othing in this or any

other provision of this chapter shall be deemed to authorize or require

medical examination, immunization, or treatment for those who object

thereto on religious grounds except where such is necessary for the

protection of the health or safety of others.” 29 U.S.C. § 669(a)(5). 13 As

the Sixth Circuit correctly concluded, in Section 20, Congress clearly

authorized OSHA to require vaccination and medical examination when

necessary to protect workers, as the limited religious exemption would be

meaningless had Congress not otherwise recognized OSHA’s authority to

use these tools. Slip op. at 11 (App. 237).14


13 The suggestion that Section 20 applies only to the Secretary of Health

and Human Services is incorrect. The section applies to all “provision[s]
of this chapter,” with the reference to “this chapter” being to 29 U.S.C.
Chapter 15, the OSH Act. The provision is designed to facilitate research
by HHS that will “enabl[e OSHA] to meet [its] responsibility for the
formulation of safety and health standards.” Id. § 669(a)(2). Thus, the
narrow prohibition on vaccination and medical examination and the
implicit authorization outside the prohibition clearly applies to OSHA.
14 In fact, the Sixth Circuit observed that this provision demonstrates not

only Congress’ authorization of immunization requirements when they
are appropriate, but also its understanding that OSHA could regulate
exposures to infectious disease. Id. (“The provision’s reference to


                                    18
     Petitioners ignore this section of the Act and argue that the ETS

exceeds OSHA’s statutory authority because “a ‘lack of historical’

precedent is often ‘the most telling indication’ that . . . an agency lacked

the power to promulgate a regulation.” States’ Pet. at 1, Ohio v. Dep’t of

Labor, U.S. No. 21A247 (Dec. 18, 2021) (citing Free Enter. Fund v. Pub.

Co. Acct. Oversight Bd., 561 U.S. 477, 505 (2010) (internal citations

omitted)).   Surely historical practice is less “telling” than express

congressional authorization. Moreover, while no prior OSHA standard

has mandated immunization, neither has OSHA done so here. Instead,

the ETS requires employers to ensure either immunization or weekly

testing and masking at work. Section 20(a)(5) also recognizes OSHA’s

authority to mandate medical examinations and OSHA has previously

done so, including a variety of medical tests in its standard for

commercial divers, because “the safety of the diver and other dive team

members can depend on the health of the individual diver.” Commercial




immunization and its creation of a limited exception to the Act’s
authorization of standards involving immunization would be rendered
meaningless if the statute did not contemplate both that ‘harmful agents’
include infectious, disease-causing agents, such as viruses, and that
OSHA would employ the use of immunizations to combat those agents.”)


                                    19
Diving Operations, Occupational Safety and Health Requirements, 42

Fed. Reg. 37,650, 37,657 (July 22, 1977) (requiring several specific tests,

including blood test). See Taylor Diving & Salvage Co. v. U.S. Dep’t of

Labor, 599 F.2d 622, 625 (5th Cir. 1979) (striking down a different

portion of the commercial diving standard and observing “OSHA may

arguably provide for a threshold determination of medical fitness.”) That

the agency has not previously seen the need to require vaccination –

another of the tools Congress recognized in Section 20(a)(5) that OSHA

possesses – does not negate the congressional authorization.

     F.    The Sixth Circuit properly rejected Petitioners’ claims both

that the “major question doctrine” requires some form of additional,

express congressional authorization, and that Section 6(c) of the OSH Act

violates the non-delegation doctrine.

     Starting with the “major question doctrine,” the Sixth Circuit

correctly found that the factual premise for its application is absent here.

The court found that “OSHA’s issuance of the ETS is not an enormous

expansion of its regulatory authority.” Slip. op. at 15 (App. 241). As we

explained above, OSHA has adopted many standards addressing hazards

that exist both inside and outside the workplace, has repeatedly



                                    20
addressed infectious diseases when they pose a particular hazard in the

workplace, and has employed requirements of both medical testing and

protective clothing as tools to abate hazards. Moreover, OSHA standards

regularly apply nationwide to all employers with employees exposed to

the regulated hazard.15

     Even if a “major question” was raised here, the Sixth Circuit also

correctly concluded that this Court’s prior cases applying the doctrine to

strike down executive branch action “are inapposite because here the

statutory language unambiguously grants OSHA authority for the ETS.”

Slip op. at 16 (App. 242). The contrast with this Court’s recent decision

in Alabama Ass’n of Realtors v. Department of Health & Human Services,

141 S. Ct. 2485 (2021), vividly illustrates why the Sixth Circuit was

correct. There, Congress had imposed a temporary eviction moratorium,

but when that eviction moratorium expired, Congress did not renew

it. In the absence of any specific congressional authorization, indeed in




15 See, e.g., Hazard Communication, 29 C.F.R. § 1910.1200; Lead, id. §

1910.1025; Silica, id. §§ 1910.1053 (general industry and maritime) and
1926.1153 (construction); Exit Routes and Emergency Planning, id. §
1910.34; Personal Protective Equipment, id. § 1910.132; and Fire
Protection, id. § 1910.155 (requiring fire extinguishers).


                                   21
the face of this evidence that Congress did not wish to extend the

moratorium, “the CDC decided to do what Congress had not.” Id. at 2486.

The CDC did so, moreover, under a statute authorizing it to “implement

measures like fumigation and pest extermination,” completely unlike an

eviction moratorium. Id. In striking down the regulatory moratorium,

this Court noted that “[i]t would be one thing if Congress had specifically

authorized the action that the CDC has taken.          But that has not

happened.”   Id.   Here, such specific congressional authorization has

happened, as we fully explain above, in Congress’ original grant of

authority to issue emergency temporary standards, in the 2021 ARA’s

specific recognition of OSHA’s authority to enforce the Act to protect

workers against COVID-19, and in OSH Act Section 20’s specific

recognition of OSHA’s authority to require both vaccination and medical

examination except of workers who object on religious grounds.

     The Sixth Circuit also correctly held that the OSH Act does not

delegate legislative power to OSHA in derogation of the constitutional

separation of powers.      This Court has already sustained another

provision of the OSH Act in the face of such a challenge, finding that

Congress acted constitutionally in granting OSHA authority to issue



                                    22
permanent health standards under Section 6(b)(5), 29 U.S.C. § 655(b)(5).

Indus. Union Dep’t, AFL-CIO v. Am. Petroleum Inst., 448 U.S. 607, 646

(1980) (“IUD v. API”). See also Whitman v. Am. Trucking Ass’ns, 531 U.S.

457, 473 (2001) (noting that EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act to

promulgate rules “requisite to protect public health” was “strikingly

similar” to delegations the Court had previously upheld, including the

OSH Act’s provisions regarding permanent health standards).

     OSHA’s authority to issue permanent standards under Section 6(b)

is broader than its authority to issue an ETS under Section 6(c). To issue

a permanent standard, OSHA must demonstrate that it will address a

significant risk of material impairment of workers’ health. See IUD v.

API, 448 U.S. at 614-15.      And the standard must be “reasonably

necessary or appropriate to provide safe or healthful employment and

places of employment.” 29 U.S.C. § 652(8). The authority Congress gave

OSHA to issue an ETS is far more circumscribed: OSHA must issue an

ETS when it determines workers face a “grave danger” from occupational

exposure to harmful physical agents or “new hazards,” id. § 655(c)(1), a

level of risk that is greater than the “significant risk” OSHA must find

before adopting a standard under Section 6(b), Int’l Union, UAW v.



                                   23
Donovan, 590 F. Supp. 747, 755-56 (D.D.C. 1984), adopted, 756 F.2d 162

(D.C. Cir. 1985). An ETS must not only be “reasonably necessary,” 29

U.S.C. § 652(8) (emphasis added); it must be “necessary to protect

employees from [the grave] danger” OSHA has identified, and to be so

during the limited time the ETS remains in effect. Asbestos Info. Ass’n

v. OSHA, 727 F.2d 415, 417 n.1, 422 (5th Cir. 1984) (emphasis added).

Thus, in Section 6(c), Congress established a clear policy favoring worker

protection from new hazards and specified when OSHA must act – when

it finds a grave danger exists – and the action it must take – issuing a

standard necessary to protect employees from that danger during the

brief period the ETS is in effect.

     The statute also prescribes the range of tools OSHA can employ in

standards adopted under both Section 6(b)(5) and Section 6(c) –

“requir[ing] conditions, or the adoption or use of one or more practices,

means, methods, operations, or processes, reasonably necessary or

appropriate to provide safe or healthful employment and places of

employment.” 29 U.S.C. § 652(8). Combined with Section 20(a)(5), id. §

669(a)(5), Congress has thus authorized OSHA to require both

traditional practices, like the use of face coverings, and practices the



                                     24
agency has either rarely or not previously determined to be necessary,

such as the requirement of medical examination or vaccination.

Accordingly, Congress has done far more than articulate “an intelligible

principle to which the person or body authorized to [exercise the

delegated authority] is directed to conform,” Mistretta v. United

States, 488 U.S. 361, 372 (1989) (quoting J. W. Hampton, Jr., Co.

v. United States, 276 U.S. 394, 409 (1928)) (alteration in original), and

there has thus been no unconstitutional delegation here.

     As this Court’s non-delegation doctrine precedents recognize, “[t]he

Constitution as a continuously operative charter of government” is not a

straitjacket that disables Congress from expressly authorizing expert

administrative agencies to implement legislative policies where it would

be either “impossible” or “impracticable” for Congress to perform the

legislative function without such assistance. Yakus v. United States, 321

U.S. 414, 424 (1944). See generally Mistretta, 488 U.S. at 371-74. Indeed,

to impose such a constitutional straightjacket on Congress, this Court

has warned, “might well result in serious hardship,” Yakus, 321 U.S. at

426, and even “paralysis,” Union Bridge Co. v. United States, 204 U.S.

364, 387 (1907), in the face of “some of [the] most important” challenges



                                   25
confronting this country, Mutual Film Corp. v. Indus. Comm’n of Ohio,

236 U.S. 230, 246 (1915)—one of which, undeniably, is the protection of

millions of workers against the ongoing scourge of COVID-19.

     The concerns expressed by the Court about an overbroad

application of the non-delegation doctrine loom especially large here as

the nation faces the new and grave hazard of COVID-19. Although the

1970 Congress that enacted the OSH Act obviously could not have

foreseen the occurrence a half century later of a workplace emergency of

the gravity and specific type that we now face, the 1970 Congress did—

in an act of prudent contingency planning of sorts—vest in OSHA a

highly constrained emergency power to respond quickly to a new hazard

in the workplace, based on its expert assessment of what steps are

immediately necessary to save lives and protect workers’ health. Under

this Court’s non-delegation cases, that prudent congressional action

authorizing OSHA to take emergency, temporary action to combat

unforeseeable workplace hazards combined with Congress’ more recent

specific recognition of OSHA’s authority to protect workers against the

hazard posed by COVID-19 should be respected rather than rendered




                                  26
nugatory at a moment in our country’s history that cries out for OSHA’s

use of that authority.

      Indeed, the assertion of a judicial power to negate Congress’

decision to authorize OSHA to deal quickly and effectively with new and

unforeseeable workplace hazards through the issuance of an ETS would

raise separation of powers concerns that are far more profound and

potentially injurious to the country than the separation of powers

concerns raised by the Petitioners.

II.   Substantial Evidence Supports OSHA’s Decision to Issue an
      ETS

      The Sixth Circuit correctly concluded that OSHA acted within its

authority in finding that the ETS addresses an “emergency” posing a

“grave danger” to unvaccinated workers and was “necessary” to protect

them from that danger.       The test is whether OSHA has amassed

substantial evidence to support each of its findings. 29 U.S.C. § 655(f).16



16 The substantial evidence test required the court of appeals to engage

in more rigorous review of OSHA’s factual findings than would be the
case under the “arbitrary and capricious” test. See Asbestos Info. Ass’n,
727 F.2d at 421. Nothing in Section 6(f) of the OSH Act—which governs
judicial review of permanent and temporary OSHA standards alike —
suggests that the court should take a harder look at factual findings
supporting an ETS than would be required when reviewing findings


                                      27
This Court has made clear that OSHA is not required to support its

scientific findings “with anything approaching scientific certainty.” IUD

v. API, 448 U.S. at 656. OSHA acts properly when it relies on a “body of

reputable scientific thought.” Id. This Court should defer to OSHA’s

expert decision about the proper scope of the ETS and the need for the

preventive measures it requires.

     OSHA detailed its analysis in 153 Federal Register pages,

explaining why occupational exposure to COVID-19 poses a grave danger

to all unvaccinated workers, not just to older or infirm workers, Pmbl-

61,410 (App. 10); 17 why all indoor workplaces where employees

congregate create a heightened risk of exposure, Pmbl-61,414 (App. 14);

why the emergence of the Delta variant of the coronavirus and the wide

availability of vaccines prompted it to adopt a specific standard in

November 2021 when it had not done so earlier, Pmbl-61,431-32 (App.


supporting a permanent standard. Fla. Peach Growers Ass’n v. U.S. Dep’t
of Labor, 489 F.2d 120, 127-28 (5th Cir. 1974).
17 In fact, the latest CDC data show that working age adults now make

up the majority of COVID-related hospitalizations.        Laboratory-
Confirmed COVID-19-Associated Hospitalizations, U.S. Centers for
Disease Control, https://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/COVIDNet/COVID19_5.html
(For week beginning December 11, adults ages 18-64 accounted for 56.2%
of COVID hospitalizations).


                                   28
31-32);18 and why its prior reliance on existing standards and the general

duty clause were not effective methods of reducing the risk of COVID-19,

making an ETS necessary. Pmbl-61,440-43 (App. 40-43). The Sixth

Circuit, after taking a hard look at OSHA’s explanation for the ETS and

each of the alleged deficiencies in OSHA’s analysis, found the ETS was

supported by substantial evidence. Slip op. at 19-31 (App. 245-57). This

Court has previously held, in another OSHA case, that it “‘will intervene

only in what ought to be the rare instance when the [substantial

evidence] standard appears to have been misapprehended or grossly

misapplied’ by the court below.” Am. Textile Mfrs. Inst. v. Donovan, 452

U.S. 490, 523 (1981) (“ATMI v. Donovan”) (alteration in original) (citation

omitted). Petitioners barely mention OSHA’s detailed explanations in

their briefs and make no effort to show that the Sixth Circuit misapplied

the substantial evidence test. They have thus offered no basis for this

Court to intervene.




18 The Fifth Circuit has held that OSHA’s failure to act sooner does not

establish the absence of an emergency warranting an ETS. Asbestos Info.
Ass’n, 727 F.2d at 423.


                                    29
      In the face of a new hazard like that posed by the pandemic,

Congress recognized the need to act quickly based on rapidly evolving

scientific information.   Congress tasked OSHA with making factual

findings to implement its policy goal “to assure so far as possible . . . safe

and healthful working conditions” by, inter alia, “reduc[ing] . . . health

hazards at . . . places of employment.” 29 U.S.C. § 651(b), (b)(1). The fact

that Petitioners read the evidence differently or suggest that OSHA

might have drawn lines differently – for example, that it might have

adopted different requirements for different industries based on differing

levels of risk estimated from incomplete data – does not mean that the

ETS is flawed. “The possibility of drawing two inconsistent conclusions

from the evidence does not prevent an administrative agency’s finding

from being supported by substantial evidence.” ATMI v. Donovan, 452

U.S. at 523 (citation omitted). As Judge Gibbons observed about the

proper role of the judiciary in reviewing the ETS, “reasonable minds may

disagree on OSHA’s approach to the pandemic, but we do not substitute

our judgement for that of OSHA.” Slip op. at 38 (App. 264) (Gibbons, J.,

concurring).




                                     30
     While Petitioners characterize the ETS as too broad, the Unions

petitioned for review of OSHA’s ETS in the court below because it is too

limited. Our concern, that the ETS does not do enough to protect all at-

risk workers, would require a remand to strengthen the ETS, not a stay

to put its protections on hold. In any event, questions about the proper

breadth of the ETS are properly resolved in the first instance by a three-

judge panel in the Sixth Circuit after briefing on the merits, not by this

Court after expedited briefing on a petition for a stay.

III. The Balance of Equities Favors Allowing the ETS to Remain
     in Effect

     The Sixth Circuit recognized the unprecedented death and illness

COVID-19 has caused over the past two years, observing that the

     pandemic has wreaked havoc across America, leading to the
     loss of over 800,000 lives, shutting down workplaces and jobs
     across the country, and threatening our economy.
     Throughout, American employees have been trying to survive
     financially and hoping to find a way to return to their jobs.
     Despite access to vaccines and better testing, however, the
     virus rages on, mutating into different variants, and posing
     new risks.

Slip op. at 4. Fifty million people in the United States have been infected

with COVID-19 since January 2020; many were infected at work and will

suffer long-term adverse health effects from their illness. Eight hundred



                                    31
thousand people have died in this country, seventy-five thousand more

than when OSHA issued the ETS less than two months ago. Pmbl-61,406

(App. 6). OSHA estimates that its ETS will prevent 6,500 additional

COVID-19 deaths and 250,000 hospitalizations in just six months. Pmbl-

61,408 (App. 8).   Even if OSHA’s projections do not prove precisely

accurate, there is no denying that the ETS will significantly reduce the

devastating toll COVID-19 has had, and continues to have, on working

families due to exposure in their workplaces.

     The Unions represent millions of workers whose lives have been

disrupted by the COVID pandemic. Thousands of businesses have closed,

laying off their workers. Many workers afraid of contracting COVID-19

have left the workforce. Others have used paid and unpaid leave to

recover from COVID-19 or to care for family members who fell ill. Most

recently, bus service and airline flights have been canceled during the

holidays because so many workers are sick. In many states, hospitals

have reached capacity and are rationing care.      The public interest

demands that OSHA’s modest protections against these threats remain

in place.




                                   32
     Against this backdrop, Petitioners’ speculative claims that they will

incur compliance costs – modest by OSHA standards – under the ETS

that may prove unnecessary if it is invalidated pale in comparison to the

cost of failing to protect workers from this deadly virus. Employers claim

they may be forced to “fire employees, suspend employees, or face

employees who quit over the [ETS],” Slip op. at 37 (App. 263), but OSHA

found that the risk that other employees would opt out of the workforce

to avoid exposure to the coronavirus or be absent because of illness or

exposure was just as great. Pmbl-61,474 (App. 74). Petitioners’ claims

also ignore the cost to employers if they are required to close their

businesses because of a COVID-19 outbreak among their workforce.

     In light of the unprecedented scope and severity of the COVID-19

pandemic and the ever-mutating virus causing wave after wave of spikes

in positive cases, hospitalizations and deaths, the balance of equities

clearly favors leaving the ETS in place pending full judicial review in the

court of appeals.

                              Conclusion

     For the foregoing reasons, this Court should deny the requests for

an emergency stay of OSHA’s ETS.



                                    33
                    Respectfully submitted,


                    /s/ Randy Rabinowitz
                    Randy Rabinowitz
                      Counsel of Record
                    P.O. Box 3769
                    OSH Law Project, LLC
                    Washington, D.C. 20027
                    (202) 256-4080
                    randy@oshlaw.org


December 30, 2021




                     34


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