in Featured World News OSHA Head Now Says ‘We Didn’t Demand That Anyone Be Fired’ and Denied Issuing a Vaccine Mandate for 84 Million Americans
During a Congressional hearing on Wednesday before the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, Douglas L. Parker, the Assistant Secretary of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), faced tough questions from Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) and Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) regarding the agency’s controversial vaccine mandate. The mandate, which the Supreme Court struck down, would have affected 84 million Americans.
Rep. Mary Miller opened her line of questioning by referring to OSHA’s emergency temporary standard released in November 2021. The rule would have required businesses with 100 or more employees to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations or regular testing for their workforce.
The OSHA Vaccination and Testing ETS refers to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s emergency temporary standard aimed at protecting unvaccinated employees of large employers (100 or more employees) from the risk of COVID-19 transmission in the workplace.
The ETS requires covered employers to implement a “mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy” unless they allow employees to choose between vaccination or regular COVID-19 testing along with the use of face coverings at work. It also mandates employers to determine the vaccination status of each employee, provide time for vaccination, conduct weekly COVID-19 testing for unvaccinated employees, enforce the use of face coverings indoors, report COVID-19 fatalities and hospitalizations to OSHA, and make records available for inspection.
Miller questioned whether OSHA had the authority to enforce such a sweeping mandate. Parker responded by stating that the Supreme Court had already ruled on the matter, effectively ending the mandate.
Miller retorted, “Thank God the Supreme Court ruled on that and stopped you from doing that. You’re an unelected bureaucrat, and you do not have the power to force 84 million people to take an experimental vaccine or show their papers. You tried to fire 84 million American workers, but do you believe the court was wrong?”