The Washington Report

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December 22, 2021

Note to Subscribers

Due to the current environment, information is changing at a rapid rate. While we do our best to provide timely updates, it is possible that the information shared in the newsletter may change or be revised after our publication deadline.

Holiday Publication Schedule

The Washington Report will be taking a holiday hiatus beginning December 29, 2021, through January 5, 2022. Look for your next Washington Report on Wednesday, January 12, 2022. Happy holidays and New Year!

COVID-19

More Court Orders Issued on Vaccine-or-Test Mandates; Stay on OSHA ETS Mandate Lifted, Additional Stays Imposed on Health Care Worker Mandate
Recently, several court orders were issued regarding COVID-19 federal vaccine mandates. On December 17, 2021, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the stay on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA's) vaccine-or-test/mask mandate (also referred to as the emergency testing standard, or "ETS") applicable to employers with 100 or more employees. On December 20, 2021, a federal judge in Missouri temporarily blocked the vaccine mandate for federal contractors in 10 states. On December 15, 2021, two courts addressed stays on the vaccine mandate issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that applies to health care providers that participate in Medicare or Medicaid.

For additional information, please see the Aon bulletin, Federal Appeals Court Lifts Stay of OSHA’s Vax-or-Test/Mask Mandate for Employers with 100+ Employees, found in the Publications section of this newsletter.

Note: Litigation on the vaccine mandates is evolving on a daily basis. Readers should always refer to primary resources from the agencies and courts for the latest guidance, as any Aon summaries or bulletins may not include the latest information due to publication deadlines. As additional litigation could occur, we will update any such developments when The Washington Report returns from its holiday hiatus on January 12, 2022.

Other HR/Employment

IRS Releases 2022 Standard Mileage Rates
On December 17, 2021, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released Notice 2022-03, which provides the 2022 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical, or moving purposes. Beginning on January 1, 2022, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups, or panel trucks) will be:

58.5 cents per mile driven for business use, up 2.5 cents from the rate for 2021;
18 cents per mile driven for medical, or moving purposes for qualified active-duty members of the Armed Forces, up 2 cents from the rate for 2021; and
14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations; the rate is set by statute and remains unchanged from 2021.

Please refer to the IRS Notice for additional provisions.

The news release is available here.

IRS Notice 2022-03 is available here.

Aon Publications

Federal Appeals Court Lifts Stay of OSHA’s Vax-or-Test/Mask Mandate for Employers with 100+ Employees
OSHA sticks to Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) compliance dates but is “exercising enforcement discretion” for up to eight weeks before issuing citations, depending on employer “reasonable, good faith” compliance efforts

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals on December 17, 2021, dissolved the stay issued in November by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that prevented the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) from enforcing the ETS issued by OSHA on November 5, 2021.

OSHA’s ETS mandate requires that companies with at least 100 employees require their employees by January 4, 2022, either to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or face weekly testing. The ETS also ordered those employers to require their unvaccinated employees to wear masks at the worksite starting December 5, 2021. The Sixth Circuit’s three-judge panel held in a 2–1 decision that OSHA had the legal authority to issue the ETS mandate and that legal challenges against the mandate were likely to fail.