|
 More than a dozen lawsuits have been filed challenging the rule,
which requires employers with at least 100 workers to mandate
COVID-19 vaccination or weekly testing combined with wearing a face
covering at work.
The rule was issued by the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA), which said it will prevent 250,000
hospitalizations caused by COVID-19.
On Friday, a three-judge panel on the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of
Appeals in New Orleans blocked the rule, calling it a
"one-size-fits-all sledgehammer that makes hardly any attempt to
account for differences in workplaces."
But on Tuesday, a federal judicial panel is expected to select - by
lottery - an appeals court to oversee all of the lawsuits that have
been brought. There are 13 federal appeals courts and the rule has
been challenged in at least 10 of them by business groups,
Republican-led states, employers and unions.
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 Legal experts said the
administration will ask the court that winds up
being randomly selected to review the 5th
Circuit's decision.
The 5th Circuit has a reputation as a one of the
country's most conservative, but unions also
filed challenges in more liberal venues such as
the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San
Francisco, putting those courts in play as well.
(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware;
Editing by Noeleen Walder and Dan Grebler)
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