A collection of nurses unions asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to order the U.S. Department of Labor to make permanent the agency’s emergency temporary standard for health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, but their request was denied on Aug. 26.
“We cannot order the Occupational Safety and Health Administration [OSHA] to promulgate a permanent standard because at the conclusion of the rulemaking process, OSHA is permitted to determine that no standard should issue,” the court stated.