Newsmax tells employees to get ready for vaccine requirements, even as hosts continue to rail against them

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After vocally decrying vaccine mandates on air, Newsmax has notified employees that it expects to begin requiring its workers to get the shot or test weekly.

The conservative network’s announcement came on the heels of the Biden administration’s OSHA emergency order that would require private companies with more than 100 employees to require vaccines or testing, at the minimum.

Newsmax has vocally criticized Fox News for a corporate vaccine mandate that’s been in place for months — as well as for its so called “vaccine passport” program that requirements employees to report their vaccinnation status or submit negative test results.

In general, companies are allowed to set up their own requirements on vaccinations similar issues as long as they comply, at the minimum, with any applicable laws — and companies including United, Tyson and Ford have all issued vaccine requirements — some with no testing opt out.

Even as Newsmax made its announcement, an “emergency” filing was made against the federal requirement.

A stay on the Biden order has been issued in the fifth circuit court of appeals that covers the states of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, though the court neglected, in its ruling, to clarify if the stay, at least in its view, is only valid in those three states or nationwide.

Because these states tend to lean conservative, the district has become a popular starting point to challenge federal legal issues involving a range of legal battles brought by conservatives.

However, because the challenge involves a federal law, the case won’t necessarily be heard in the fifth circuit. Instead, the case, along with any similar ones filed in other circuits nationwide, would be combined into a single case and then heard in a district determined by a random lottery.

While it’s not illegal for the fifth circuit to jump directly to issuing a stay, some legal scholars say it’s an unusual move, especially given that the federal mandate doesn’t take effect until early January.

Ultimately, the Biden administration’s Justice Department could end up requesting the case be taken to the Supreme Court, but that move likely wouldn’t come until after the lottery takes place.

There hasn’t been any word on if Newsmax will hold back on the requirement now that the issue is working its way through he legal system.

Employers found violating the rules could faced tens of thousands of dollars in fines, including steeper ones for “willful” violations.