On June 10, 2021, OSHA issued updated COVID-19 guidance for all employers, along with its much awaited emergency temporary standard focused on health care workers. Importantly, OSHA continued in the footsteps of the CDC in...more
6/16/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Health and Safety ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
OSHA ,
Public Health ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
Mandatory vaccination policies have long been common in the health care field with respect to illnesses like measles and the flu, but have not been implemented on a wide spread basis. To date, courts have generally found such...more
1/22/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
In today’s episode, Michael Schmidt is joined by his Cozen O’Connor colleagues, David Barron and Howard Schweitzer, to discuss the latest political and employment law implications of employers requiring employees to get the...more
With the outbreak of the corona virus dominating headlines, it is a great time to dust off the company policy on dealing with flu season and infectious diseases, generally, in the workplace. Contagious diseases are...more
1/24/2020
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Rights ,
Employment Policies ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Flu Shot Rule ,
Incident Response Plans ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Influenza ,
Labor Regulations ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Occupational Exposure ,
OSHA ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Public Health ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Risk Management ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wages
Texas has largely avoided the wave of marijuana legalization sweeping the country and the accompanying legal complications that have come along for the ride. Those days may be numbered as the Texas Legislature recently passed...more
9/5/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Cannabidiol (CBD) oil ,
Cannabis Products ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Drug Testing ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Hemp ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Marijuana ,
Medical Foods ,
Medical Marijuana ,
New Legislation ,
Plant Based Products ,
Popular ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
Protecting your trade secrets and proprietary information is a vital part of your business. Every company needs to have policies and agreements in place to prevent employees from stealing property, and wrongfully soliciting...more
8/9/2018
/ Confidentiality Agreements ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Misappropriation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Proprietary Information ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Risk Management ,
Trade Secrets
One of the benefits of the recent #Metoo movement is that companies in every industry are rethinking not only employment policies, but their approach to training and organizational culture. I was recently interviewed for an...more
3/19/2018
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Culture ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Harassment ,
Hostile Environment ,
Risk Management ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Title VII
The #MeToo movement started as a wave of press coverage exposing long-suppressed stories of sexual harassment and exploitation in Hollywood. That movement, however, has now gone far beyond Harvey Weinstein. ...more
2/5/2018
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Culture ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Harassment ,
Hostile Environment ,
Internal Investigations ,
Risk Management ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Title VII ,
Tone At The Top
Ban the Box, living wage, sick pay, and legalized marijuana. These laws are at the cutting edge of employment law, and they are all legislative efforts at the state and city level. With a Republican Congress since 2010, new...more
The latest craze is Pokémon Go, an app for smartphones that allows people to “catch” Pokémon creatures by integrating the real world with the virtual world. So what do you do if you see one of your employees wandering around...more
Texas has long allowed licensed citizens to carry concealed handguns, but in 2016 Texas will allow “open carry” for the first time. For employers, this means dusting off the gun policies and signs on your front doors to...more
As more states jump on the medical marijuana bandwagon, employers are faced with increasing questions about how these changes in the law affect drug testing policies. The conventional wisdom has been that medical marijuana...more
6/24/2015
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Dish Network ,
Drug Testing ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Lawful Activities Act ,
Marijuana ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Off-Duty Employees ,
Termination ,
Zero Tolerance Policies
Employees at a Chicago plant are picketing over a new employer policy to time unscheduled bathroom breaks and discipline employees who exceed what the company deems as a reasonable amount of time. The company even went so...more