As technological advances have given employers artificial intelligence (AI) based tools to assist them in the hiring process, New York City has taken note. Recently, New York City adopted a new measure restricting the use of...more
On December 6, 2021, New York City announced a vaccine mandate for all private-sector employers that will take effect on December 27, 2021. The mandate, which will require all in-person employees who are in a workplace with...more
12/7/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Deadlines ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Mayor de Blasio ,
New York ,
Private Sector ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
State Legislatures ,
Vaccinations
On November 8, 2021, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law a bill requiring employers to provide written notice to and obtain employee acknowledgments from new hires before they may engage in electronic monitoring of...more
On November 22, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a Final Rule that will increase the minimum wage for employees who work on federal contracts. The Final Rule implements Executive Order 14026, which President Biden...more
Updates Regarding COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate for Federal Contractors Released November 12, 2021 On November 4, 2021, the White House announced that the deadline for the federal contractor vaccination mandate will be extended...more
11/12/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Compliance ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employer ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Federal Contractors ,
OSHA ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Time Extensions ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
On November 10, 2021, following the announcement of OSHA’s new vaccination-or-testing rule, the Office of the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board released a memorandum addressing employers’ obligation to...more
On November 6, 2021, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked enforcement of the OSHA vaccination-or-testing rule. Citing “grave statutory and constitutional issues” with the rule, a three-judge panel issued the...more
11/8/2021
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Appeals ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Enforcement ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Interim Final Rules (IFR) ,
Order to Stay ,
OSHA ,
Religious Exemption ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing
On October 28, 2021, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) announced a new rule affecting employers with tipped employees. The rule limits the circumstances under which employers may take a “tip credit” against an...more
11/1/2021
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Food Service Workers ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Labor Regulations ,
New Rules ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Tip Credit ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
On October 25, 2021, as more employers adopt workplace vaccination requirements for their employees, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) updated its guidance concerning requiring COVID-19 vaccinations in...more
10/29/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Exemptions ,
Guidance Update ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Beliefs ,
Religious Exemption ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing
On September 29, 2021, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed into law an extension to the Massachusetts COVID-19 Emergency Paid Sick Leave (“EPSL”) program. As we wrote about in detail..., the EPSL program requires...more
On September 24, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a new final rule strengthening the enforcement provisions of existing regulations concerning tipped employees. While various regulations relating to tipped...more
On September 24, 2021, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force issued its much-anticipated guidance regarding new COVID-19 workplace safety requirements for federal contractors (the “Guidance”). The Guidance comes in response...more
9/29/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employer ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Masks ,
OSHA ,
Social Distancing ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Web Tracking ,
Workplace Safety
On September 9, 2021, President Biden unveiled his administration’s plan to combat the recent COVID-19 surge across the United States, referred to by the administration as the “Path out of the Pandemic.” The plan, in...more
9/13/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Mandates ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Healthcare Workers ,
OSHA ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
On August 25, 2021, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in Osborne-Trussell v. Children’s Hospital Corporation that a nurse whose employment was terminated prior to her start date after disclosing to her employer...more
On August 23, 2021, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in Hovagimian v. Concert Blue Hill, LLC, that the Massachusetts Tips Act requires that an employer pay service employees any “service charge” listed on an...more
On July 29, 2021, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced that it will rescind a Trump administration rule that limited the circumstances in which multiple employers could be deemed “joint” employers of the same employee....more
On May 28, 2021, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed into law legislation requiring all Massachusetts employers to provide emergency paid sick leave to employees who are unable to work for certain reasons relating to...more
6/4/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Full-Time Employees ,
New Legislation ,
Notice Requirements ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Sick Leave Act ,
Part-Time Employees ,
Sick Leave ,
State Labor Laws
On May 28, 2021, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) updated its guidance concerning COVID-19 vaccinations in the employment context. Most significantly, the EEOC offered long-awaited guidance on the...more
6/3/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Documentation ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
GINA ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Incentives ,
New Guidance ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Vaccinations
On May 17, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) updated its COVID-19 guidance to employers, instructing employers to refer to recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance for...more
5/19/2021
/ Best Practices ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Masks ,
New Guidance ,
OSHA ,
Social Distancing ,
State and Local Government ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
This morning, Governor Charlie Baker made a major announcement accelerating the Massachusetts COVID-19 reopening plan.
On May 29, 2021, the Commonwealth will lift all industry COVID restrictions and lift all capacity...more
On May 5, 2021, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule rescinding a 2020 rule promulgated by the Trump administration that made it easier for workers to be classified as independent contractors rather...more
5/14/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Classification ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Economic Realities Test ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Trump Administration
On May 5, 2021, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the New York Health and Essential Rights Act into law, which will require New York State employers to implement workplace health and safety standards to protect their...more
5/12/2021
/ Compliance ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employer ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Failure to Comply ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Health and Essential Rights (HERO) Act ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Mandatory Requirements ,
New York ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Workplace Safety
On April 7, 2021, the Department of Labor (“DOL) released a series of Frequently Asked Questions with clarifying information about the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021’s (“ARPA”) extended subsidy period for COBRA premium...more
On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the “ARPA”) into law. In addition to providing nearly $2 trillion of monetary relief for individuals and business sectors impacted by the...more
4/1/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Biden Administration ,
CARES Act ,
COBRA ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Discrimination Rules ,
Relief Measures ,
Sick Leave ,
Sick Pay ,
Subsidies ,
Tax Credits ,
Unemployment Benefits
March 18, 2021 On March 12, 2021, the National Labor Relations Board withdrew its proposed rulemaking that would have prevented college student workers from organizing unions. As a result, the Board’s 2016 decision granting...more