State to File Lawsuit Over OSHA Vaccine Mandate
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana Attorney General Todd Rokita says the state will file a lawsuit against the Biden administration over the new emergency temporary standard issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The mandate requires companies with 100 employees or more to require the COVID-19 vaccine by January 4 or weekly testing.
Rokita’s announcement came just hours after Governor Eric Holcomb issued a statement directing Rokita’s office and the Indiana Department of Labor to work together on a lawsuit challenging the mandate.
“This is an overreach of the government’s role in serving and protecting Hoosiers,” the governor said. “While I agree that the vaccine is the tool that will best protect against COVID-19, this federal government approach is unprecedented and will bring about harmful, unintended consequences in the supply chain and the workforce.”
During a news conference Thursday afternoon, Rokita called the OSHA mandate an “excessive government overreach.”
“This announcement by the Biden administration is particularly egregious to have during a time when our country is already dealing with not only a supply chain crisis, but we’re dealing with inflation. We’re dealing with an economic crisis. We’re dealing with an immigration crisis and we’re also dealing with a lack of employment opportunities,” said Rokita. “This edict is unlikely to win the hearts and minds of Hoosiers or any Americans who don’t want to be vaccinated.”
Rokita says the mandate is overreaching because the pandemic is more than just a workplace issue.
“[COVID has] been with us for years now, quite literally,” Rokita said. “This is not a workplace issue. It’s been with us. It’s been with us at our homes. It’s been with us on our sports teams. It’s been with us in our kids’ schools. It’s been with us everywhere.”
The attorney general’s office is also filing two additional lawsuits against the Biden administration. The first, set to be filed Thursday along with the attorneys general of Louisiana and Mississippi, seeks to overturn the federal vaccine mandate for federal contractors.
The second, seeks to overturn the rule requiring vaccination of all healthcare workers at facilities participating in Medicare and/or Medicaid. Rokita says Louisiana and Mississippi could possibly join that suit as well.
You can view Rokita’s news conference in full below: