Starting on July 2, 2021, Kentucky’s state labor cabinet will no longer be allowed to adopt safety standards more stringent than what federal law requires, as state law will now run parallel to federal workplace safety...more
For employers required to maintain work-related injury and illness records: it’s that time of year again. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires covered employers (establishments with 10 or more...more
With such little fanfare that it may have escaped many employers’ attention, the Kentucky Labor Cabinet’s Department of Workplace Standards recently implemented final amendments to its injury and illness recordkeeping and...more
Media outlets announced Saturday that Joe Biden will become the 46th president of the United States. If the legal challenges to the election result fail and he is inaugurated in January, President-Elect Biden can begin taking...more
11/10/2020
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Biden Administration ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Citations ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
OSHA ,
Safety Inspections ,
Workplace Hazards ,
Workplace Illness and Injury Reporting ,
Workplace Safety
When thinking about safety training for your workforce, you may be, understandably, focused on your workforce as a whole. Just as important, however, is considering the age, gender, nationality, and other aspects of all of...more
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) just published its newest series of answers to its COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) addressing when an employer must report to OSHA an employee’s...more
This article addresses many employment-related issues facing employers in the wake of hurricane-related disasters; consequently, in addition to federal laws, we also focus on certain state laws, especially those in the areas...more
8/21/2020
/ Business Closures ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Charitable Donations ,
COBRA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employees ,
Data Privacy ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Force Majeure Clause ,
Foreign Workers ,
Form I-9 ,
H-1B ,
Health and Safety ,
Health Insurance ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Health Plan Sponsors ,
Highly-Skilled Workers Visa ,
HIPAA Privacy Rule ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Hurricane Season ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Labor Relations ,
Medical Leave ,
Military Leave ,
Military Service Members ,
Natural Disasters ,
NLRB ,
OSHA ,
Retirement ,
Retirement Plan ,
Retirement Plan Providers ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unemployment Benefits ,
Unemployment Compensation System ,
Unions ,
USCIS ,
USERRA ,
Visa Applications ,
Visas ,
Volunteers ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Hazards ,
Workplace Injury ,
Workplace Safety
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration recently announced that OSHA area offices will begin to increase in-person inspections in some parts of the country as the agency released a revised response plan on how it...more
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration recently issued interim guidance to its area offices on how to handle COVID-19 related complaints, indicating that employers in “high risk” industries such as hospitals and...more
5/5/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Health and Safety ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Facilities ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Nursing Homes ,
OSHA ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Public Health ,
Workplace Safety
Kentucky OSHA (KOSH) has been tasked with enforcing Governor Beshear’s Executive Orders (EO) regarding essential businesses and social distancing. See Executive Order 2020-257. For those essential businesses who are now...more
The Kentucky Labor Cabinet’s Department of Workplace Standards released its proposed amendments to its injury and illness recordkeeping and reporting requirements on February 11, 2020. A public hearing on these amendments...more
4/24/2020
/ Comment Period ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Health and Safety ,
OSHA ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Public Comment ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Workplace Illness and Injury Reporting ,
Workplace Injury ,
Workplace Safety
The CDC recently recommended the use of homemade cloth face coverings in public settings, which raised many questions among in the workplace law community. The two most common questions: Are these DIY cloth face coverings...more
Have you ever heard the expression “a good craftsman never blames his tools”? Well, that doesn’t apply to Buzz Kutt, one of your technicians who continually blames others for his own inability to turn hours. Now that summer...more
Employee burnout is now an officially diagnosable condition. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), which recently updated its definition, employee burnout is not a medical condition. Instead, the WHO calls burnout...more
As you may have seen in the news, an anticipated first all-female astronaut spacewalk had to be cancelled because the International Space Station did not have the appropriate sized space suits for both of the female...more
Indiana GOP lawmaker and Chamber of Commerce join forces to support a bill to require a penalty for workplace fatalities of $100,000 per employee killed. House Bill 1341, authored by GOP lawmaker Martin Carbaugh, was filed on...more
OSHA has issued a final rule that rescinds the prior requirement for companies with 250 or more employees to electronically submit the OSHA 300 log and OSHA Form 301. These companies will still be required to submit the OSHA...more
When the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a memorandum in 2018 announcing that agency inspectors are now authorized to use camera-carrying Unmanned Aircraft Systems—or drones—to collect evidence...more
1/9/2019
/ Consent ,
Drones ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fourth Amendment ,
Memorandum of Guidance ,
OSHA ,
Privacy Concerns ,
Safety Inspections ,
Safety Violations ,
Search Warrant ,
Workplace Safety
OSHA issued a new Site Specific Targeting (SST) Plan effective October 16, 2018. Unlike prior versions, this new SST Plan utilizes the 2016 300A data that many employers electronically submitted in December 2017. The new SST...more
House Bill 2 (“HB2”) was signed into law by Governor Matt Bevin and became effective in July 2018. Through HB2, the legislature enacted significant changes to multiple provisions of the Workers’ Compensation Act. One of the...more
10/16/2018
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Best Practices ,
Burden of Proof ,
Causation ,
Drug Testing ,
Employment Policies ,
Governor Bevin ,
New Legislation ,
OSHA ,
Rebuttable Presumptions ,
State Labor Laws ,
Workers Compensation Act ,
Workers' Compensation Claim
OSHA Rolls Back Enforcement of Anti-Retaliation Provisions!
Yesterday, the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration (“OSHA”) issued a standard interpretation clarifying its position on the new recordkeeping rule’s...more
10/12/2018
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Drug Testing ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
New Guidance ,
New Rules ,
OSHA ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Retaliation ,
Workplace Illness and Injury Reporting ,
Workplace Safety
Today, OSHA posted a press release announcing two week reprieve for employers to submit the 300As (only the 300As this year regardless of size if more than 20 employees) from December 1 to December 15, 2017...more
The December 1 compliance date for federal OSHA’s new electronic recordkeeping portion of the new recordkeeping regulation is fast approaching. Known as “Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses,” the new federal...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 each month in 2017. July was no different,...more
8/2/2017
/ Ashley Madison ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Class Action ,
Data Breach ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Electronic Records ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Form I-9 ,
Gender Equity ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Gig Economy ,
GrubHub ,
Joint Employers ,
Local Ordinance ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Misclassification ,
OSHA ,
Over-Time ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnancy Disability Leave Law ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
San Francisco ,
Settlement ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Uber ,
Updated Forms
OSHA issued a press release on July 14, 2017 (see link at https://www.osha.gov/injuryreporting/index.html ) regarding the availability of the portal for electronic recordkeeping reporting. The portal will become available on...more