At their first meeting of the new year, city councilors in Portland, Maine repealed a COVID-19 emergency order that had been in place since March of 2020, thereby terminating a short-lived hazard pay provision. During the...more
The pandemic seems not to have slowed down state and local lawmakers. Indeed, over 100 new labor and employment laws and ordinances are scheduled to take effect between July 1, 2021 and November 1, 2021. Notably, while some...more
Welcome to this seventh issue of the 2021 edition of Unprecedented. There is a lot of good news around the COVID-19 pandemic. Easter weekend saw the United States mark another vaccination milestone, with 4 million doses...more
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes for the past few years—and this past month...more
A growing number of cities in California, including Oakland, Long Beach, Montebello, West Hollywood and San Leandro, have recently enacted ordinances requiring large grocery and/or drug stores to pay specified workers premium...more
The Oakland City Council approved this week a Hazard Pay Ordinance requiring certain grocery store employers to pay an additional $5.00 per hour in hazard pay for all part-time and full-time employees, and comply with other...more
On January 25, 2021, the Seattle City Council unanimously passed an ordinance requiring hazard pay for certain grocery business employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mayor Durkin signed the ordinance into law on January 29....more
In November 2020, Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute (WPI) published its Election Report, a deep dive into the myriad labor and employment policy questions potentially in play depending on the outcome of the election. The...more
On January 14, 2021, President-elect Joseph R. Biden, Jr. released his administration’s plan for additional COVID-19 economic relief. The $1.9 trillion package includes a range of measures to address the continued...more
There has been extensive reporting on the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill just released by President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team. News reports have highlighted key aspects of the plan including additional $1,400...more
This article follows an earlier article on hazard pay.... Hazard pay legislation is expanding nationwide at all levels of government. The growth in calls for hazard pay is the result of a shift in perception of the types of...more
The current COVID-19 crisis has many employees asking (if not demanding) that they receive additional compensation for work that may put them at an increased risk of exposure to the coronavirus.[i] Although their requests...more