8 THE ITALIAN LAW JOURNAL NO. 1 (2022)
National Federation of Independent Business v Department of Labor, Occupational Health and Safety Administration and Employee Covid Vaccine Mandates in the US: Federalism, Separation of Powers and a Disunified Approach
by Charles F. Szymanski From early 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has spread and wrought havoc across the globe. States attempted to limit its harm by first enacting draconian lock-downs. Later, after effective vaccines became available in early 2021, many states moderated these lock-downs while at the same time taking steps to ensure their populations were adequately vaccinated. Some of these steps included vaccine mandates, particularly for employees. While employee vaccine mandates were implemented in many European states, and found to be lawful by the courts in these jurisdictions, a different result ensued in the United States. In National Federation of Independent Business v Department of Labor, Occupational Health and Safety Administration, the US Supreme Court blocked an emergency regulation by an administrative agency charged with ensuring worker health and safety from taking effect, which would have required most private sector employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19. This essay examines the rationale for that decision, and explains how specificities in American constitutional law have resulted in a divergent legal approach to determining the validity of federal, state and private sector employee vaccine mandates. DOI 10.23815/2421-2156.ITALJ ISSN 2421-2156
