Tuesday, Ohio voters overwhelmingly passed Issue 2, legalizing recreational marijuana use. Today employers are wondering, “how does this new law affect the workplace?” The short answer is: not much.
Consistent with...more
11/9/2023
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Drug Testing ,
Drug-Free Workplace Act ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Marijuana ,
Recreational Use ,
Wage and Hour ,
Zero Tolerance Policies
Do you use a staffing agency to provide workers for your day-to-day operations?
Are you a franchisor that licenses your trademark and business model to franchisees?
If you answered “yes” to either of these questions,...more
10/30/2023
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Franchises ,
Franchisors ,
Hiring & Firing ,
International Franchise Association (IFA) ,
Job Duties ,
Joint Employers ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Staffing Agencies ,
Supervision ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
On May 30th, the NLRB General Counsel issued a memorandum asserting that most non-compete agreements for non-supervisory employees violate federal labor law. Specifically, GC Abruzzo expressed her view that non-compete...more
Yesterday, the National Labor Relations Board significantly expanded the damages available to employees in unfair labor practice proceedings. Damages for employees wrongfully discharged in violation of federal labor law have...more
On December 27, 2021, the CDC shortened its recommended isolation and quarantine periods for those infected with, or exposed to, COVID-19. Because the CDC’s Isolation Guidance is incorporated by reference into OSHA’s...more
On Friday, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the stay on OSHA’s vaccine-or-test rule for employers with 100 or more employees. In response, OSHA posted a brief statement on its website stating that large employers...more
Yesterday, a federal judge in Kentucky issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Biden Administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors in Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee, and a federal judge in Louisiana...more
Yesterday afternoon, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals was selected to determine the fate of OSHA’s “vaccine or test” rule for large employers. The Court will decide whether or not the rule, adopted as an emergency temporary...more
Yesterday, OSHA released its emergency COVID-19 vaccination rule. Under the rule, employers with over 100 employees must implement a policy by December 5th requiring all employees to either be vaccinated or to undergo regular...more
11/5/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Documentation ,
Employment Policies ,
Immunization Records ,
Masks ,
OSHA ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Religious Beliefs ,
Remote Working ,
Vaccinations
In what is likely to be just the first of many court challenges to private employer COVID-19 vaccination requirements, a United States District Court judge in Kentucky refused to stop a hospital from requiring its employees...more
On September 9, 2021, President Biden directed OSHA to issue a rule requiring private sector employers with 100 or more employees to mandate that employees either get an approved COVID-19 vaccination or produce a negative...more
9/10/2021
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Employees ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Joe Biden ,
Masks ,
OSHA ,
Teachers ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
On August 13, 2021, OSHA released updated guidance on mitigating and preventing the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace. The revised guidance incorporates the CDC’s recommendation that vaccinated employees wear masks indoors...more
For employers who contribute to financially-troubled multiemployer pension plans (multiemployer plans), a lot has changed in the last six months. In March, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) which...more
In the opening days of his administration, President Biden has signed a flurry of Executive Orders impacting multiple sectors of the U.S. economy. This article summarizes the Orders that impact employee benefits and...more
3/3/2021
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Association Health Plans ,
Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Executive Orders ,
Healthcare ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Supply Chain ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Treasury ,
Virus Testing
Congress’s passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act (“CAA”) imposes a series of new recordkeeping and disclosure obligations on plan sponsors, as well as extending and expanding upon COVID-19 related relief. Less than...more
Legislation enacted by Congress has repealed three excise taxes that had been previously imposed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “Affordable Care Act”). Congress recently enacted the Taxpayer Certainty...more
The CARES Act signed into law on March 27, 2020 includes several changes that impact retirement plans and executive compensation. The law provides participants impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic with expanded rights related to...more
On the evening of March 18, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. This law requires all public employers and private employers with less than 500 employees to provide emergency...more
3/21/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
EFMLA ,
EPSLA ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Relief Measures ,
Sick Leave ,
Sick Pay ,
Tax Credits ,
Unemployment Insurance ,
Virus Testing
On August 9, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) announced proposed rules¹ to change three aspects of the Board’s union election procedures: 1) the treatment of unfair labor practice charges filed after a...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a proposed rule setting $35,308 as the new minimum salary threshold required for workers to qualify for the “white collar” overtime exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Under...more
It looks like the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will have another opportunity to clarify the test for determining whether a micro-unit of employees in a functionally integrated manufacturing plant constitutes an...more
All of us have a tendency to compartmentalize issues that occur in the workplace. When it comes to a work-related injury, employers in Ohio often compartmentalize the issue by placing it in the “workers’ compensation” box...more
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, “It means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different...more