The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported the start of the most severe flu season in over a decade, leading employers of all types to decide whether they should mandate flu shots for their workforce....more
Welcome to our latest Healthcare Snapshot, where we take a quick look at some of the most pressing issues facing employers in the industry. Even though COVID-19 numbers are generally trending in a positive direction,...more
4/18/2022
/ Caregivers ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Home Healthcare Workers ,
Hospitals ,
Labor Shortage ,
Mental Health ,
NLRB ,
Nurses ,
Nursing Homes ,
OSHA ,
Physicians ,
Skilled Nursing Facility ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations ,
Wage and Hour
Welcome to FP Snapshot on Healthcare, where we take a quick look at some of the most significant current workplace law issues, including hot non-COVID-19 issues, with an emphasis on the practical impact of how they affect...more
2/23/2022
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Retention ,
Employer Mandates ,
Exemptions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Gig Economy ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Shortage ,
Nurses ,
Physicians ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
Since we first explained the CMS vaccine mandate (the Interim Final Rule (IFR) from the Centers from Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that requires COVID-19 vaccinations for all staff at covered facilities), the mandate has...more
The Supreme Court blocked OSHA from enforcing the vaccine mandate-or-test ETS and the agency responded Tuesday by shelving the emergency rule altogether. In some ways, these two developments mean that the pathway for...more
Welcome to FP Forecast, a monthly outlook featuring Fisher Phillips thought leaders providing their insights into what employers can expect in 2022 and beyond. By following along each month, you’ll be in the best position to...more
1/26/2022
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Incentives ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
OSHA ,
Tax Liability ,
Vaccinations ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
Immediately after blocking OSHA’s “shot or test” ETS, the Supreme Court held Thursday that the CMS vaccine mandate can be enforced by a 5-to-4 margin. This effectively removes the injunctions that had been blocking...more
In a surprise move, the Supreme Court failed to resolve either of the two pending workplace vaccine cases yesterday morning despite having announced a special decision day that led most Court observers to think that yesterday...more
1/14/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Healthcare Workers ,
National Federation of Independent Business v Department of Labor and OSHA ,
OSHA ,
SCOTUS ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
The Supreme Court just blocked OSHA’s vaccine ETS from being enforced for the foreseeable future, meaning your compliance to-do list has gotten significantly shorter – but it has by no means disappeared. While today’s 6 to 3...more
Perhaps no workplace law issue has generated more controversy in recent memory than the battle over the Biden administration’s vaccine rules currently being waged at the Supreme Court. The good news? By accelerating the...more
1/3/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Oral Argument ,
OSHA ,
Popular ,
Stays ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
Serving up yet another curveball for healthcare employers, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals effectively reactivated the CMS vaccination mandate across nearly half of the country with a surprise decision on Wednesday...more
In a terse 22-page opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reaffirmed its preliminary stay that blocked the mandate-or-test Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) late Friday, further complicating the status of...more
Federal workplace safety officials just released the mandate-or-test workplace vaccine emergency rule, and employers are sure to have questions. The Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) developed by the Occupational Safety and...more
11/5/2021
/ Best Practices ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employer ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Policies ,
Federal Contractors ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Joint Employers ,
OSHA ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Remote Working ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Illness and Injury Reporting ,
Workplace Safety
Earlier this week, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an Executive Order immediately restricting entities in the state – including employers – from compelling any individual to receive a COVID-19 vaccination if that individual...more
10/14/2021
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Policies ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Governor Abbott ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Workers ,
OSHA ,
Subcontractors ,
Texas ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
The overwhelming majority of employers cite fear of turnover and staffing shortages as a reason not to implement a vaccine mandate at their workplaces – but is this fear being overestimated? Out of the 1,578 respondents that...more
The proportion of employers mandating or considering mandating the COVID-19 vaccine increased nearly four-fold in the past three months, spurred by fears surrounding the Delta variant and the growing confidence that such...more
Although the COVID-19 vaccines are expected to receive full FDA approval – perhaps as soon as later this month – an increasing number of businesses are not waiting for full authorization and are pressing forward to require...more
Bolstering the renewed emphasis on increasing the number of people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, a recent memo from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) that just became public confirms that the “emergency use”...more
A federal judge has scuttled key aspects of the U.S. Labor Department's (DOL's) rule that would have extended the federal Fair Labor Standards Act's minimum wage and overtime requirements to many home care workers. The rule...more