The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit was the first court to issue its decision pertaining to the preliminary injunction barring the enforcement of the Biden Administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors and subcontractors (EO 14042). On August 26, 2022, the Eleventh Circuit agreed with the lower court’s order striking down EO 14042, but narrowed the scope, which had applied nationwide, to provide relief only to the plaintiffs listed in the lawsuit (Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, Utah, and West Virginia, as well as the members of the Associated Builders and Contractors). As a result, the federal government is prohibited from imposing the requirements of EO 14042 on the seven plaintiff states or members of the Associated Builders and Contractors. However, the court also held that the government may not consider a bidder’s compliance with EO 14042 in solicitations in which any of the plaintiff states or a member of the Associated Builders and Contractors is a bidder. Therefore, this aspect of the injunction still applies to nonparties. Shortly after the Eleventh Circuit issued its decision, the federal government announced on August 31, 2022, that it would take no action to implement or enforce EO 14042 in light of the Eleventh Circuit’s decision. In addition, several other injunctions remain in effect and cover contractors in Missouri, Nebraska, Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, and Florida.
FELLP Law will continue to monitor developments from the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force and will post updates regarding the government’s plans to enforce the federal contractor vaccine mandate. For more information, please contact Theresa Culver at tkc@fellplaw.com.