Well, that was fast.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has granted an emergency stay of the Emergency Temporary Standard that was formally issued Friday by the Occupational Safety and...more
Substantively moderate, but logistically? Ugh.
As I'm sure you all have seen, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration released yesterday its long-awaited Emergency Temporary Standard on COVID-19 vaccinations. ...more
11/5/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Documentation ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
Federal Register ,
Immunization Records ,
Masks ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
OSHA ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Remote Working ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing
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
10/29/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
De Minimis Claims ,
Employer Mandates ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Guidance Update ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Beliefs ,
Religious Exemption ,
Title VII ,
Undue Hardship ,
Vaccinations
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
10/8/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Medical Examinations ,
Medical History ,
OSHA ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Beliefs ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations ,
Wage and Hour
Idle speculation as employers await the actual guidance.
As you know, last week President Biden issued Executive Orders and a directive to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to require many, many employers...more
9/17/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Employees ,
Joe Biden ,
Labor Relations ,
Paid Leave ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Remote Working ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Wage and Hour
This might help employers figure it out.
Now that employers are becoming more aggressive in requiring employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, we are also seeing a lot of requests from employees for religious...more
Don't rely on it too much -- yet.
We recently got our first federal court decision addressing whether an employer had the right to require employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19. The court's answer was yes...
...more
7/2/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) ,
Employer Mandates ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Food and Drug Act ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Popular ,
Pregnancy ,
Religious Exemption ,
Suspensions ,
Termination ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
Happy days are here again!
How much do you know about summer workplace fun in '21? Take our quiz and find out! As always, the answers appear right after each question, so you can cheat all you want -- we'll never know. And...more
Just before the Memorial Day holiday, we had a “breaking news” bulletin about the revised guidance published Friday by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission about employers’ and employees’ rights when it came to...more
6/3/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Confidential Information ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Documentation ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
GINA ,
Guidance Update ,
Health Care Providers ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Incentives ,
Personnel Records ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Exemption ,
State Labor Laws ,
Termination ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations
Vaccine incentives are generally ok!
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission today issued revised guidance on COVID vaccinations, which include long-awaited guidance on employer incentives for employees to be vaccinated....more
Can employers breathe easy now?
Last Saturday, I went to the supermarket and did my weekly grocery shopping without a mask.
It was glorious! And completely legal!
But employers may not be as elated as I am, now that...more
5/21/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Documentation ,
Employer Mandates ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Incentives ,
Masks ,
New Guidance ,
OSHA ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Pregnancy ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Exemption ,
Remote Working ,
Social Distancing ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
Miss Manners should stick to writing about ice cream forks.
Those of you who read this blog know that I am a longtime fan of the etiquette columnist Judith Martin, aka "Miss Manners," in the Washington Post. I have even...more
Test your knowledge about the FMLA, pregnancy bias, and more!
How much do you know about moms in the workplace . . . in 2021? Take our quiz and find out! As long as you are a mom, have a mom, love a mom, or know a mom, you...more
5/7/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Biden Administration ,
Child Care ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
In Loco Parentis ,
Lactation Accommodation ,
Maternity Leave ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Exemption ,
Vaccinations
For two years: 2019 and 2020.
On Monday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced that its portal for the collection of "Component 1" EEO-1 information is now open.
"Component 1" is the run-of-the-mill...more
Before the coming crackdown.
We expect federal agencies under the Biden Administration to move in a not-so-employer-friendly direction as soon as they have a chance to get settled in. While they're still settling in, this...more
4/16/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Biden Administration ,
Caregivers ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Independent Contractors ,
Minimum Wage ,
Misclassification ,
NLRA ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
OSHA ,
Performance Reviews ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Videoconference ,
Workplace Safety
Good news!
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in a letter yesterday to a number of employer groups that it will be issuing guidance on employer incentives to encourage employees to get their COVID...more
Here are some suggestions for making it painless.
Although the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a feeling of "impending doom" about COVID-19, many employers are ready to get back to normal. ...more
4/1/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Child Care ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Pregnancy ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Exemption ,
Remote Working ,
Return-to-Work Agreements ,
Telecommuting ,
Vaccinations
Science!
Wednesday was Equal Pay Day, the day on which women's pay finally catches up to that of their male counterparts.
They say that a woman has to work from January 1 through March 24, 2021, in addition to all of...more
3/26/2021
/ Caregivers ,
Child Care ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender Equity ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Pay Gap ,
Remote Working ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Wage and Hour
He'll be sworn in tonight.
Yesterday the U.S. Senate voted 68-29 to confirm (former) Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to be Secretary of Labor. Last night, Mr. Walsh resigned as Mayor of Boston...
...more
And that's not all!
Nail in the coffin for Trump Order on "divisive" training. In January, President Biden signed an Executive Order that revoked Trump Executive Order 13950. As Cara Crotty has written, the Trump E.O....more
3/5/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Delays ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Diversity ,
Employee Training ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Independent Contractors ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Inspector General ,
Joe Biden ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Occupational Exposure ,
OIG ,
OSHA ,
Subcontractors ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour
Vaccines, unemployment, and more!
I had a COVID return-to-work quiz back in May, but a lot has changed since then, so I thought it might be fun to do an updated version. So . . .
How much do you know about COVID in the...more
2/26/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Biden Administration ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Documentation ,
Employer Mandates ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Incentives ,
Layoffs ,
Masks ,
Quarantine ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Exemption ,
Social Distancing ,
Trump Administration ,
Unemployment ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
Just because you can, should you?
As most of our readers know, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in December that employers can legally require employees to get COVID vaccinations, provided that they take a...more
And more!
It's been another busy week at Chez Biden. I will dive right in.
NLRB Acting General Counsel Peter Ohr withdraws 12 memos by former GC Peter Robb. Of course, the withdrawn General Counsel memoranda were relatively...more
Tougher EEOC and OFCCP, a legal challenge at NLRB, and more.
NOTE FROM ROBIN: In this limited-edition "Biden Time" series, I provide regular updates on the new President's appointments and other actions that will be of...more
1/29/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Cause Determination Finding ,
Conciliation ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Equal Pay ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Mediation ,
NLRB ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
OFCCP ,
Opinion Letter ,
Race Discrimination ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Videoconference ,
Wage and Hour
Don't worry - the rest of this post is in English.
Employees at a French factory are reportedly up in armes because their employer plans to require them to wear "social distancing" alarms while on the job...more