For almost two years now, employers have been tackling the issues surrounding COVID-19. Not surprisingly most questions centered on COVID-19-specific leave, OSHA reporting requirements, and vaccines. Now, the EEOC has chimed...more
In the ever-changing vaccine mandate legal tennis match, the Sixth Circuit on Friday entered an opinion lifting the Fifth Circuit’s stay of OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard on COVID-19 vaccines and testing. Companies with...more
We’ve talked about social media policies several times over the years, but it’s been a while since we’ve discussed monitoring your employees’ work phones, emails, and internet usage. As you most likely know, you can and...more
As we are sure you have heard, many people are not all that psyched about the federal government mandating that employees get vaccinated. Just to keep everyone on the same page in these ever-changing times, here is a quick...more
12/9/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Exemptions ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
Injunctions ,
Multidistrict Litigation ,
OSHA ,
State and Local Government ,
Stays ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
Many of us are understandably anxious to put another tumultuous year of the pandemic behind us. But before we sit down at the table to fill our plates and bellies to overflowing to celebrate the holiday, we can all find some...more
11/24/2021
/ Administrative Agencies ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Biden Administration ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Harassment ,
Multidistrict Litigation ,
OSHA ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Stays ,
Termination ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
Employers in Tennessee need to hold off on requiring COVID-19 vaccine proof from employees because they might run afoul of a newly minted law. On November 12, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed an omnibus COVID-19 bill into law...more
11/18/2021
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Exemptions ,
Federal Contractors ,
Governor Lee ,
New Legislation ,
State and Local Government ,
Tennessee ,
Vaccinations ,
Vaccine Passports
The saga of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) newly announced COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) continues. As you know, the ETS requires employers with 100 or more employees to mandate...more
11/16/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
Injunctions ,
Multidistrict Litigation ,
OSHA ,
Stays ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
As most employers already know, OSHA’s newly announced COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) is set to take effect January 4, 2022, and will require, among other things, that workers at U.S. companies with at least 100...more
11/10/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Multidistrict Litigation ,
OSHA ,
Premature Claims ,
Stays ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing
Things just got more complicated in Tennessee for private employers wrestling with COVID-19 vaccines. On October 30, the Tennessee Legislature passed an omnibus COVID-19 bill that does not entirely line up with the current or...more
Law and Practice Chambers -
The 2020 Chambers US Regional Employment Guide features guidance on employment law across 14 states and includes a unique state comparison tool for readers. The guide provides expert legal...more
10/29/2021
/ Alabama ,
Black Lives Matter ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Discrimination ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Gig Economy ,
Harassment ,
Health and Safety ,
Immigration ,
Interviews ,
NLRB ,
OSHA ,
Privacy Laws ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Retaliation ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
Technology ,
Termination ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
As we reported here, President Biden issued his “Path out of the Pandemic” memorandum on September 9, 2021. Part of that memorandum directed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to develop a rule to...more
10/29/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employer ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Federal Contractors ,
Healthcare Workers ,
OSHA ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
We’ve been talking a lot about COVID-19 lately and, in particular, the various regulations and guidance that have come out regarding an employer’s day-to-day responsibilities: Can you require employees to take the vaccine?...more
10/13/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Discrimination ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination
Are you paying employees using a day rate under the FLSA? If so, you may want to read the Fifth Circuit’s recent ruling in the latest string of Helix Energy cases. According to the Fifth Circuit, companies who do business in...more
As promised in our April 2021 post regarding the rules for tipped employees, here’s the update on the final rule. Recall that not all of the rule became effective earlier this year but certain portions were implemented to...more
10/1/2021
/ Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Minimum Wage ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Tip Credit ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
The answer is it depends.
Why is the employee refusing the vaccine?
For employers mandating the vaccine, an employee’s refusal to receive it because he or she simply does not want to be vaccinated is likely fair game...more
9/24/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Guidance Update ,
OSHA ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Termination ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations
Yesterday, President Biden announced that he is entering two Executive Orders requiring COVID-19 vaccines for federal workers and contractors and that administrative agencies (the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services...more
9/13/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
OSHA ,
Privately Held Corporations ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
In another chapter in litigation alliteration, in Maner v. Dignity Health, f/k/a Catholic Healthcare West, the Ninth Circuit held that a male employee’s theory that his supervisor’s long-term romantic relationship with a...more
9/9/2021
/ Discrimination ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Preferred Treatment ,
Retaliation ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Summary Judgment ,
Termination ,
Title VII ,
Workplace Romances
Recently OSHA updated its guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace for employers who are not covered by the “COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard for Healthcare.” As we explained before,...more
9/2/2021
/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Guidance Update ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Investigations ,
Masks ,
Medical Monitoring ,
OSHA ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) entitles employees to paid short-term military leave in certain circumstances, following the...more
A federal district court in Texas recently struck down the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program – known commonly as DACA – holding that the program was improperly implemented by the former Obama administration and,...more
8/10/2021
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Appeals ,
Biden Administration ,
DACA ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Obama Administration ,
Trump Administration ,
US v Texas ,
USCIS
President Biden issued a new lengthy executive order (EO) on July 9, 2021, aimed at promoting competition in the United States. While that sounds great, everyone needs to keep in mind that this new EO also is aimed at...more
We are so ready to put COVID-19 behind us, but unfortunately, the delta variant is keeping us on our toes. So, for the time being, where do we stand, and what do we do now?...more
8/4/2021
/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Masks ,
New Guidance ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Regulatory Mandates ,
School Districts ,
Travel ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
Does your company use fingerprinting or some facial recognition scanner as part of its clock-in, clock-out process? If your company has facilities or even some contacts with Illinois (and maybe other states in the future) you...more
On July 21, the DOL announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to enforce the Biden Administration’s Executive Order raising the minimum wage for workers under federal contracts to $15 per hour. The proposed rule would go into...more
You may recall our blog post last summer recapping the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia that held discrimination based on sexual orientation is prohibited by Title VII. After that decision,...more
7/20/2021
/ Bostock v Clayton County Georgia ,
Employee Training ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Identity ,
New Guidance ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender