Return to Work: Employer-Mandated COVID-19 Vaccination Policies and Accommodating Employee Disabilities and Religious Beliefs
For retail establishments, developments involving religious accommodation and the new Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) make scheduling employees more challenging. Religious Accommodation- The U.S. Supreme Court...more
How far must employers go to accommodate their employees' sincerely held religious beliefs? Last month, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Groff v. DeJoy, a case that asks the Justices to answer this very question—and...more
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Groff v. DeJoy, a case I blogged about in January. The case is about what standard of "undue hardship" should apply in religious accommodation cases. Under every...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
At long last, the United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has released its emergency temporary standard (ETS) requiring employers with 100 or more employees to take certain...more
On October 25, 2021, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a new guidance and questions and answers regarding COVID-19 issues confronting employers and employees. The EEOC’s Technical Assistance is...more
Somebody say "Amen." The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has added a new section to its COVID-19 guidance, related to religious objections to vaccine mandates. I am happy (OK, relieved) to say that the latest...more
Since March 2020, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) COVID-19 technical assistance, “What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws,” has been a valuable...more
For what it’s worth, on October 25, 2021, the EEOC updated its guidance “What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws” and added Section L entitled “Vaccinations – Title VII and...more
On Monday, October 11, 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued Executive Order No. GA-40 (“EO-40”) prohibiting COVID-19 vaccine mandates by any entity in Texas. Effective immediately, EO-40 states: “No entity in Texas can...more
What You Should Know- •A student at Rutgers University was joined by other plaintiffs in filing a federal lawsuit in response to the university’s decision to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for students. •The plaintiffs’...more
Is your business ready to weather another Covid-19 storm?- On October 12, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) submitted its draft of the proposed enforcement standards to the White House’s Office...more
Governor Abbott’s Executive Order- On October 11, 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued Executive Order GA-40 (the Texas Order) banning COVID-19 vaccine mandates by any entity, including private employers, in Texas....more
Over the past few months, the COVID-19 vaccine has dominated news coverage and is at the forefront of the current administration’s agenda. On Thursday, September 9, 2021, President Joe Biden announced a sweeping new federal...more
I'm not sure the ADA will let you do that. There has been a lot in the news lately about job applicants who include their COVID-19 vaccination status on their resumes, employers who ask applicants for that information, and...more
On September 24, 2021, as instructed by President Biden’s Executive Order 14042, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (“Task Force”) published its COVID-19 Workplace Safety for Federal Contractors Guidance. We first...more
As we reported on Friday, the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force complied with Executive Order 14042 (“Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors”) by issuing guidance for federal contractors on...more
On August 23rd Governor Pritzker issued Executive Order 2021-20 requiring health care workers, school personnel, higher education personnel and students, and state-employees and contractors who work at state-owned or...more
Philadelphia court employees will be required to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of continued employment; they must be vaccinated, or offer proof of a medical exception, by November 15, 2021, the First Judicial...more
On September 9, 2021, President Biden released a new six-pronged national plan, the Path Out of the Pandemic (the “Plan”), to try and curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.The Plan includes the following measures:...more
On Thursday, September 9, 2021, President Biden announced that the Department of Labor is preparing to mandate that all business with 100 or more workers require their employees to either get vaccinated against the...more
Now that the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued its formal approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, many employers are beginning to implement vaccine requirements for employees. This article...more
On August 26, 2021, Governor Pritzker signed Executive Order No. 87 (Order) that, among other provisions, mandates that Illinois health care workers be vaccinated against COVID-19. To what health care workers does this...more
Title VII requires an employer to provide a reasonable accommodation for an employee whose sincerely held religious belief, practice, or observance conflicts with a work requirement, unless providing the accommodation would...more
Puerto Rico Governor Pedro R. Pierluisi has expanded mandatory COVID-19 vaccination to additional private industries effective August 30, 2021. Private Industries Covered- Under Executive Order 2021-064 (EO), all...more