There has been a lot of talk about the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). So, where are we now? What do you need to know? This newsletter provides a snapshot of what it took to get the PWFA and its regulations finalized,...more
8/29/2024
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Employee Rights ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Labor Reform ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Title VII
Can you prohibit your employees from bringing firearms to your workplace? You may think the answer is yes, but it’s more complicated. Recent state laws on gun rights have raised questions regarding guns at work. Here we will...more
7/5/2024
/ Alabama ,
Concealed Carry Permit ,
Concealed Weapons ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer No-Weapons Policies ,
Employment Policies ,
Firearms ,
Gun Laws ,
Louisiana ,
New Legislation ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Workplace Violence
Personnel files, employee files, employee records… no matter what you call them, you probably know they are important. But why, exactly? Below is a refresher on the importance of personnel files and best practices for...more
Nearly a year ago, we reported that the United States Supreme Court was planning to hear a case—Acheson Hotels v. Laufer—on whether “tester” plaintiffs in ADA accessibility cases have standing to sue, including in the...more
2023 has brought many updates and changes to the legal landscape. Our blog posts have covered many of them, but you may not remember (or care to remember) them. Before moving on to 2024, let’s take a moment to review our top...more
12/29/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Exemptions ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Healthcare ,
Income Taxes ,
Over-Time ,
Paid Leave ,
Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (“PUMP Act”) ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Vaccinations
When is driving an essential function of a job? What if the employee drives herself to customers’ homes to provide services and now wants to use alternative modes of transportation? What if the employee’s request is because...more
Last week, on the 50th anniversary of the Rehabilitation Act — which prohibits disability discrimination by federal contractors and other programs receiving federal funds — the EEOC and Department of Labor issued a resource...more
10/5/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Disabilities ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Contractors ,
New Guidance ,
OFCCP ,
Rehabilitation Act ,
Subcontractors
If you use non-competes, make sure you complete all the steps to make them enforceable. It may be your practice to ask the employee to sign it and then not sign it yourself. While we seldom see challenges to this practice,...more
Can someone who has no intention of using your services or buying your products sue you because your website is not accessible? In Acheson Hotels v. Laufer, the United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case on whether...more
Your job descriptions may be more important than you think, and what better time to review and update them than the start of the new year? In this blog, we discuss why job descriptions are important and the things to consider...more
As we barrel into 2023, it is worth a look back at last year. Employment law issues in 2022 were diverse, ranging from federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates (yes, that was last year) to state laws on CBD and diversity and...more
1/4/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Cannabis Products ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Discrimination ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Drug Testing ,
Employee Training ,
Employees ,
Employer Mandates ,
Hemp ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Marijuana ,
Stop Woke Act ,
Vaccinations
If you are considering using video cameras or other surveillance in your workplace, state law might have something to say about it. There are many reasons you might want to use video cameras in your workplace – employee...more
With the warmer months rolling in and travel rates skyrocketing, it’s likely that many of your employees are taking days away from the office. It may be time to give some attention to your paid time off (PTO) policies and to...more
This country’s relationship with cannabis is a complicated one, and as is often the case in complicated matters, words matter. Marijuana and hemp are different strains of the Cannabis sativa L plant. So, “cannabis” is a...more
7/11/2022
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Blue Cross ,
Cannabis Products ,
Controlled Substances Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability ,
Drug Testing ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Hemp ,
Job Descriptions ,
Marijuana ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
State and Local Government ,
Termination
Most employers know the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as the law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability and requires reasonable accommodations of employees’ disabilities. However, this prohibition is...more
6/30/2022
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Disability ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Public Accommodation ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Title I ,
Title III ,
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ,
Website Accessibility ,
Websites
Roughly a month ago, the U.S. House of Representative voted to pass the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, which decriminalizes marijuana under federal law. Most notably, the MORE Act would remove...more
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
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
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently reiterated the importance of engaging in the interactive process with employees seeking disability accommodations. This case serves as a helpful reminder,...more
It feels like ages ago when the COVID-19 vaccination first rolled out, and employers were scrambling with questions. But look how far we’ve come! Now, with many states easing (or eliminating) COVID-19 restrictions and opening...more
In a long-awaited opinion, the Eleventh Circuit held that websites are not places of public accommodation for purposes of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). When employers think of the ADA, the first thing that likely...more
Just when you had your COVID-19 leave policies in place, Congress goes and passes new legislation: the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Remember, as we outlined in a previous blog post, the Families First Coronavirus Response...more
4/1/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Biden Administration ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employees ,
Covered Employer ,
EFMLA ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Intermittent Leave ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Relief Measures ,
Sick Leave ,
Tax Credits
Do you need a social media policy or are the legal obstacles just too much? Now more than ever, people are exercising their First Amendment right to free speech, which, not surprisingly, can cause heartburn at the workplace....more
1/27/2021
/ Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Public Employers ,
Section 7 ,
Social Media ,
Social Media Policy
Earlier this month, voters in five states took to the ballot box and legalized some form of marijuana use. Polls show that two-thirds of Americans now favor marijuana legalization, and 59% said it should be legal for both...more
11/20/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Ballot Measures ,
Controlled Substances Act ,
Drug Testing ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Legalization ,
Local Elections ,
Marijuana ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
State and Local Government ,
State Elections ,
State Labor Laws ,
Zero Tolerance Policies