As employers consider plans to have their workforces return to the office, they are faced with the daunting task of creating a return-to-work program that balances powerful safety, legal, and social considerations under a...more
10/27/2021
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Continuing Legal Education ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Employment Policies ,
Masks ,
Re-Opening Guidelines ,
Return-to-Work Agreements ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Webinars ,
Workplace Safety
Perhaps I should not have been surprised that my clients who have mandated COVID-19 vaccines have seen far more objections to their mandates based on religious grounds than on medical conditions or disabilities. While there...more
9/16/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Policies ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
While many service, retail and factory workers returned to work several months ago, many employers with white-collar workers have been less inclined to mandate that employees return to the office. A good number of these...more
A few weeks ago, the most common question that employers were asking was whether they could (or should) require employees to get vaccinated. Most of my employment colleagues agreed that employers could mandate vaccines as...more
5/26/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Health Insurance ,
Masks ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Exemption ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
On March 2, as I was waiting in line in the parking lot of NRG Stadium in Houston to get my first COVID jab, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced that, effective March 10, there would no longer be any COVID-19 operating...more
3/5/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Entertainment Venues ,
Executive Orders ,
Governor Abbott ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Masks ,
OSHA ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Public Health ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Social Distancing ,
Texas ,
Workplace Safety
In this program, a panel of Vinson & Elkins’ Labor & Employment attorneys discuss potential changes to workplace laws that employers may expect to see under the Biden administration, including requirements related to labor,...more
12/10/2020
/ Biden Administration ,
Continuing Legal Education ,
Employment Policies ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Foreign Workers ,
Immigration Reform ,
Labor Regulations ,
OSHA ,
Wage and Hour ,
Webinars ,
Workplace Safety
One question that employers have been asking since the onset of the pandemic is whether they could be sued by employees who get sick as a result of being exposed to an infected coworker. Plaintiffs’ and defendants’ lawyers...more
11/11/2020
/ Amazon ,
Best Practices ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Dismissals ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Occupational Exposure ,
OSHA ,
Workplace Hazards ,
Workplace Illness and Injury Reporting ,
Workplace Safety
Join Vinson & Elkins for our tenth annual seminar discussing timely topics surrounding unconventional oil and gas development.
Our shale and hydraulic fracturing legal team will provide a comprehensive analysis of the...more
10/2/2020
/ Continuing Legal Education ,
Energy Market ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Environmental Litigation ,
Environmental Policies ,
Fracking ,
Oil & Gas ,
Shale Gas ,
Webinars ,
Workplace Safety
We have all seen the data: Eighty percent of the people who have died of COVID-19 in the United States have been 65 or older. While these numbers may reflect a large number of older people who were living in nursing homes,...more
Some states have issued orders requiring employers to provide cloth face coverings to employees as a condition for reopening. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) has stated that it will not mandate that...more
As employers ask employees who have been furloughed or who have been teleworking to return to the office, they may encounter some resistance from some workers who don’t want to come back. Here are some of the reasons that...more
Just when employers began calling more employees back to work, OSHA revised its guidance on when a COVID-19 infection is recordable. On the surface, the new requirements remain the same as those issued in early April...more
On April 13, 2020, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued its latest COVID-19-related interim guidance, describing how it intends to approach COVID-19-related inspections. While the interim...more
Although the risk of exposure to the Coronavirus (or “COVID-19”) within most U.S. workplaces is uncertain, employers should still review their emergency preparedness plans in response to the potential threat...more
Recordkeeping is not a sexy issue to write about, but I would be remiss if I did not periodically remind our readers about their recordkeeping obligations under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA).
First and...more
The general duty clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act requires employers to provide a workplace which is “free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his...more