While the term “caregiver” is not identified as a protected class under federal equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws, workplace decisions that adversely impact job applicants and employees who are also caregivers can still...more
For many healthcare employers, phase one and phase two COVID-19 vaccine deadlines are either here or quickly approaching. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), in an exercise of enforcement discretion, has begun...more
On Thursday, January 13th, in Joseph R. Biden et al., v. Missouri, et al., the United States Supreme Court released its decision lifting the injunctions imposed by two District Courts that had enjoined enforcement of the...more
Employers are facing yet another twist in the ongoing saga of the vaccine mandates issued by the Biden Administration earlier this year. On Friday, December 17, 2021, the Sixth Circuit dissolved the Fifth Circuit’s stay of...more
12/21/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Executive Orders ,
Joe Biden ,
Noncompliance ,
OSH Act ,
OSHA ,
SCOTUS ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
On December 15, 2021, in State of Louisiana et al. v. Xavier Becerra, et al., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (Fifth Circuit) effectively revived the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Interim Final...more
On November 29, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri (Missouri court) issued a preliminary injunction enjoining the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) from implementing and...more
Tennessee and Florida enacted state laws earlier this month that impose restrictions on an employer’s ability to impose vaccine mandates or to ensure employees are vaccinated. While Tennessee’s law provides employers who are...more
11/23/2021
/ Adverse Action ,
Adverse Employment Action ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Federal Contractors ,
Florida ,
Governor DeSantis ,
Governor Lee ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Masks ,
Opt-Outs ,
OSHA ,
Public Schools ,
Reemployment ,
Religious Exemption ,
Tennessee ,
Unemployment Benefits ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing
On November 4, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued its Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) applicable to employers of 100 or more employees. The ETS requires employers to adopt a soft vaccine...more
11/9/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Documentation ,
Employer Mandates ,
Executive Orders ,
Joe Biden ,
Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) ,
OSHA ,
Religious Exemption ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing
On November 4, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released an advance copy of the Interim Final Rule (IFR) related to COVID-19 vaccines for most of the entities covered by applicable Conditions of...more
11/5/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Documentation ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Interim Final Rules (IFR) ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations
On Thursday, November 4, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued its Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) applicable to employers of 100 or more employees. The ETS requires employers to adopt a...more
11/5/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Documentation ,
Employer Mandates ,
Executive Orders ,
Franchisors ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Masks ,
OSHA ,
Paid Leave ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Religious Exemption ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing
For the past 18 months, employers have faced a dizzying number of new laws, regulations and employment issues resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest announcement of COVID-19 vaccine mandates by the White House on...more
President Biden’s September 9, 2021 Executive Order 14042, Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors, directs the federal Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (“Task Force”) to develop COVID-19 workplace...more
9/28/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employees ,
Documentation ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
Joe Biden ,
Masks ,
OSHA ,
Religious Exemption ,
Service Contract Act ,
Social Distancing ,
Subcontractors ,
Vaccinations
Husch highlights
•On September 9, 2021, President Biden announced a new vaccine mandate for healthcare workers employed at most Medicare- and Medicaid-certified facilities; continued participation in Medicare and Medicaid...more
9/21/2021
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Funding ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Interim Rule ,
Joe Biden ,
Masks ,
Popular ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Social Distancing ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing
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
8/31/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Disparate Impact ,
Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) ,
Employer Mandates ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Incentives ,
Masks ,
Pfizer ,
Religious Beliefs ,
Vaccinations ,
Wage and Hour
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
8/26/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Masks ,
Popular ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Beliefs ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Religious Exemption ,
Social Distancing ,
Title VII ,
Undue Hardship ,
Vaccinations
On July 27, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new recommendations applicable to non-healthcare settings for fully vaccinated individuals as well as a report regarding masks and other COVID-19...more
On July 26, 2021, the White House issued a press release marking the 31st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act and announcing the publication of new guidance and resources dedicated to assisting disabled...more
As previously discussed, the American Rescue Plan Act was passed and signed into law by President Biden on March 11, 2021. The Act extends and expands payroll tax credits until September 30, 2021, for employers who...more
4/9/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Emergency Sick Leave Laws ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Full-Time Employees ,
Joe Biden ,
Opt-In ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Tax Credits ,
Vaccinations
As previously discussed, the American Rescue Plan Act was passed and signed into law by President Biden on March 11, 2021. The Act extends and expands payroll tax credits until September 30, 2021, for employers who...more
3/24/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Full-Time Employees ,
Opt-In ,
Paid Leave ,
Payroll Taxes ,
Sick Leave ,
Tax Credits ,
Wage and Hour
On January 20, 2020, the first case of COVID-19 in the United States was confirmed in Washington state. By March, many employers began sending their workers home on what was expected to be a temporary basis. Almost one year...more
2/15/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
OSHA ,
Privacy Laws ,
Remote Working ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
State Taxes ,
Wage and Hour
As we discussed previously after the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) expired on December 31, 2020, President Trump signed the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) which allowed employers to decide if...more
On September 11, 2020, the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor (DOL) released unpublished revisions to portions of the Temporary Final Rule published on April 1, 2020, under the Families First Coronavirus...more
9/17/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
EPSLA ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Health Care Providers ,
Labor Regulations ,
Paid Leave ,
Required Documentation ,
Sick Leave ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Availability Requirement
On July 16, 2020, Colorado Governor Jared Polis issued an Executive Order requiring masks to be worn in all public indoor spaces, with limited exceptions. Executive Order D 2020 138 went into effect at midnight on July 16 and...more
Evidently accepting Winston Churchill’s advice that one should never let a good crisis go to waste, the Colorado General Assembly passed, and Governor Polis has signed, two laws that, on their face, appear designed to address...more
The Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (HFWA), signed into law on July 14, 2020, not only requires additional paid sick leave for virtually all Colorado employees during the current COVID-19 pandemic for up to 80 hours, but...more