Governor Andy Beshear recently announced a tentative schedule for re-opening specific Kentucky businesses amid the coronavirus pandemic. Certain businesses that encourage large gatherings, like bars, will remain closed, but...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
Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb just announced his plan to gradually reopen the state as part of a five-step plan, dubbed “Back-On-Track.” Indiana will follow four guiding principles to determine how various sectors of the...more
5/4/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Governor Holcomb ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Public Health ,
Re-Opening Guidelines ,
State and Local Government ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
Resuming business operations as the intensity of the COVID-19 pandemic decreases and governments in Kentucky and Indiana ease restrictions will involve more than unlocking your front door and turning the lights on. You must...more
5/1/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Health and Safety ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Paid Leave ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Public Health ,
Re-Opening Guidelines ,
Remote Working ,
Shelter-In-Place ,
Sick Leave ,
State and Local Government ,
Unemployment Benefits ,
Virus Testing ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety ,
Wrongful Death
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
Kentucky employers will need to get acquainted with a new state law just signed into effect Monday, March 30, that addresses a number of coronavirus-related issues that are relevant to the workplace. After passing the state...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
A Kentucky legislative leader has just taken the first step to try to resurrect the ability of employers to require employment disputes to be resolved by arbitration. Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers has just...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
In what appears to be the first time a federal appeals court has extended the nation’s main federal employment discrimination statute to cover transgender and transitioning employees, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals...more
3/8/2018
/ Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
LGBTQ ,
Protected Class ,
Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender
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. November was no...more
12/7/2017
/ Affordable Care Act ,
Appeals ,
Attorney General ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Electronic Filing ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Failed Legislation ,
Fair Workweek ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Fines ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gig Economy ,
Harassment ,
Independent Contractors ,
IRS ,
Joint Employers ,
LGBTQ ,
Marijuana ,
Misclassification ,
Paid Leave ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Proposed Rules ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Salary/Wage History ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Tax Penalties ,
Title VII ,
Uber ,
UK ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules ,
Workplace Illness and Injury Reporting
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
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While it always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, the last few months have seen an unprecedented number of changes. June 2017 was no different, with...more
7/7/2017
/ Administrative Interpretation ,
Advocate Health Care v Stapleton ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Benefit Plan Sponsors ,
Church Plans ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Discrimination ,
Electronic Records ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Harassment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Interlocutory Appeals ,
Joint Employers ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Microsoft v Baker ,
Minimum Salary ,
Misclassification ,
New Legislation ,
NLRB ,
Opinion Letter ,
OSHA ,
Over-Time ,
Popular ,
Public Accommodation ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Title III ,
Travel Ban ,
Trump v Hawaii ,
Trump v International Refugee Assistance Project ,
Uber ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Website Accessibility ,
White-Collar Exemptions