On December 11, 2023, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that its employees would now be using safety helmets in place of traditional hard hats when inspecting employer establishments....more
Many employers annually submit injury and illness Form 300A data through OSHA’s Injury Tracking Application (ITA). For the first time in 2024, employers with 100 or more employees identified in an updated “high-hazard...more
Summary of the Proposed Regulation On August 29, 2023, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a press release announcing proposed changes to the Representatives of Employers and Employees standard. In...more
As employers in Illinois should recall, having a written expense reimbursement policy is a best practice based on changes to the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act (IWPCA) that went into effect on January 1, 2019. The...more
Effective July 1, 2022, the City of Chicago amended the Chicago Human Rights Ordinance by adding significant sexual harassment prevention requirements for employers, including new employer policy, notice, and training...more
This is a friendly reminder that certain employers covered by the OSHA 300 recordkeeping standard must submit electronic copies of the 300A to OSHA by March 2, 2023 using the OSHA Injury Tracking Application (ITA). Covered...more
On Wednesday, January 26, 2022, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published a notice that it had formally withdrawn the OSHA COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) that...more
1/26/2022
/ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
OSHA ,
State and Local Government ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Vaccinations ,
Withdrawal
On Thursday, January 13, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to reinstate the stay on the OSHA COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) that was previously lifted by the Court of Appeals for the...more
1/14/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Biden v Missouri ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Lack of Authority ,
National Federation of Independent Business v Department of Labor and OSHA ,
OSHA ,
SCOTUS ,
Stays ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing
On November 4, 2021, the Biden administration announced two new rules which implement vaccine mandates in the workplace. OSHA Rule Impacting Employers with 100 or more Employees The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety...more
11/5/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Executive Orders ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Interim Final Rules (IFR) ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
OSHA ,
Temporary Regulations ,
Vaccinations
On September 9, 2021, President Biden announced a six-part plan as part of a broad effort to increase the number of fully vaccinated individuals in the U.S. As part of that plan, the President directed the Occupational Safety...more
As has been widely reported, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently announced that fully vaccinated individuals may resume "activities without wearing masks or physically distancing . . . ." The...more
5/26/2021
/ Best Practices ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Masks ,
New Guidance ,
OSHA ,
Social Distancing ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
On December 27, 2020, the President signed a bill passed by Congress providing additional COVID-19 related relief and stimulus. The key provisions impacting employers and current and former employees are summarized below,...more
1/4/2021
/ CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Economic Injury Disaster Loans ,
Emergency Sick Leave Laws ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Financial Stimulus ,
IRS ,
Paid Leave ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Relief Measures ,
Sick Leave ,
Tax Credits ,
Time Extensions ,
Unemployment Benefits
Based on welcome news that the COVID-19 vaccine may be available to the public in the coming months, many employers are beginning to consider whether mandatory vaccinations can be incorporated into existing strategies to...more
12/24/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
GINA ,
Infectious Diseases ,
New Guidance ,
NLRB ,
OSHA ,
Popular ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
Based on welcome recent news surrounding plans to distribute a successful COVID-19 vaccine in the coming months, many employers are beginning to consider whether mandatory vaccinations can be incorporated into existing...more
Last summer, Governor Pritzker signed sweeping changes to Illinois law that were intended to combat sexual harassment. We previously summarized these changes required by the Workplace Transparency Act here. One of the...more
Based on changing information and recommendations relating to COVID-19, employers who recently reopened or who are considering reopening should regularly check state and federal agency guidance for the latest information....more
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) recently published updated guidance on the handling of critical infrastructure workers who may have been exposed to a person with a confirmed or suspected case of...more
Now that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (“CDC”) has recommended that the public wear cloth face masks to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, we anticipate that employees will increasingly seek to use face masks in the...more
On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of the Wuhan coronavirus a global health emergency. And, as reflected in the news, Chicago is the site where the first person-to-person transmission of...more
On September 24, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule that will increase the threshold salary requirement necessary for employees to be exempt from minimum wage and overtime requirements under the Fair...more
On Friday, August 9, 2019, Governor Pritzker signed SB 75, as part of a massive overhaul of employment laws that were passed by the Legislature earlier this year, and which we summarized previously. While requirements...more
8/19/2019
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Arbitration ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Policies ,
Human Rights Act ,
New Legislation ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Severance Agreements ,
State Labor Laws ,
Transparency
The Illinois General Assembly recently passed a number of bills that will, if signed by Governor Pritzker, create new laws and amend existing laws that will significantly impact all Illinois employers and employees.
...more
As expected, Governor J.B. Pritzker recently signed the cannabis legalization bill that was passed along with a flurry of legislation last May. As a result, employers will need to grapple with a number of issues before...more
Artificial intelligence (AI) solutions have been touted as a way for employers to make better hiring decisions than a conventional interview process, because, among other considerations, the software will not take into...more
7/1/2019
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Biometric Information Privacy Act ,
Bots ,
Class Action ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Informed Consent ,
Interviews ,
Software ,
State Labor Laws ,
Technology
Recent news demonstrates that workplace violence prevention remains an important issue that employers should not overlook. For example, a workers’ advocacy group recently announced that its members had targeted an employer...more