Breaking Down the Shifting Vaccine Policy Landscape – Diagnosing Health Care Video Podcast
DE Under 3: End Human Trafficking in Gov. Contracts Act & Vaccination Mandate Updates
#WorkforceWednesday: EEOC's LGBTQ+ Guidance Blocked, Employer COVID-19 Update, NYC Prepares for Pay Transparency Law - Employment Law This Week®
Podcast: Impact of COVID-19 on Pharmacist Scope of Practice: Before and After the PREP Act - Diagnosing Health Care
Employment Law Now VI-116-Top 10 Employment Issues To Consider For The Summer Kick-Off
Podcast: OSHA's Permanent COVID-19 Standard and Enforcement Blitz - Diagnosing Health Care
#WorkforceWednesday: CA COVID-19 Policies Get Updates, NYC Pay Transparency Law Postponed, DOL Targets Worker Retaliation - Employment Law This Week®
#WorkforceWednesday: NYC Pay Transparency Law, Florida Diversity Training, and Cal/OSHA’s COVID-19 ETS - Employment Law This Week®
DE Under 3: DEAMcon22, Remarks from OFCCP Director Yang & EEOC Commissioner Sonderling & Vaccine Mandate Updates
DE Under 3: Vaccine Mandate Updates, Contractor Unique Entity Identifiers, EEOC Nominations & A Reduced VEVRAA Hiring Benchmark
#WorkforceWednesday: EEOC COVID-19 Charges Surge, NYC’s Pay Transparency Law, SCOTUS Considers PAGA - Employment Law This Week®
Hot Spots in Employment Law 2022
Federal Vaccine Mandates: What’s Next for Employers?
DE Under 3: Disability Unemployment, Cornell ILR & USDOL Women's Bureau Webinar Series & More
HIPAA Tips With Williams Mullen - COVID Health Information and HIPAA – Do You Know the Rules?
Looking back at 2021 and ahead to 2022
DE Under 3: Vaccination Mandates Continuing & Federal Contractor Minimum Wage
Podcast: Owner's Outlook: Vaccine Mandate for Construction Workers at Health Care Facilities - Diagnosing Health Care
DE Under 3: OFCCP Contractor Portal & Request for Comments for Functional Affirmative Action Programs (FAAPs)
Employer Vaccine Mandates and Exemptions
The COVID-19 pandemic brought workplace vaccination policies to the forefront, raising complex questions about religious accommodations. Over four years after the initial rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, these policies remain...more
In Retzios v. Epic Systems Corp., the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals considered an appeal brought by the plaintiff, a former employee of Epic, who was fired after she refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The...more
In a dispute over workplace vaccination requirements, a federal district court in Oregon joined a growing trend in workplace vaccination litigation when it ruled that a plaintiff’s allegations of religious conflict with...more
On January 7, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed and remanded a district court’s dismissal of a plaintiff’s Title VII religious bias suit—holding the case was sufficient to survive a motion to...more
Lawsuits challenging employers' authority to require measures intended to prevent COVID-19 infections continue to wend their way through the federal judiciary. Last month, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a claim...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In two cases issued by the Seventh Circuit, Passarella and Dottenwhy v. Aspirus, Inc. and Bube and Hedrington v. Aspirus Hospital, Inc. the Court held that at the motion to dismiss stage, the fact that a...more
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, employers attempting to enforce safety policies faced resistance from employees opposed to vaccination mandates. In many cases, employees claimed that taking the vaccine violated...more
Vaccine Exemption Policy Requiring Citation to Official Doctrine Violates First Amendment Madison Houghton and Nathan A. Adams IV In Does 1-11 v. Bd. of Regents of Univ. of Colorado, 100 F. 4th 1251 (10th Cir. 2024), former...more
Chutzpah is a Yiddish word derived from the Aramaic ḥuṣpāh. It means impudence, gall, and an audacious disregard for rules. In the world of employment law, it can aptly describe employees who try to get what they want...more
Five Ward and Smith attorneys provided updates related to employment law, including non-compete agreements, unionization efforts, pregnancy laws, and overtime rules for exempt employees, during the firm’s recent In-House...more
As flu and other respiratory virus rates peak across the U.S., hospitals and other health care providers are responding by taking measures such as limiting patient visitors. For years, one element of this response has...more
Hospital Unlawfully Refused Applicant’s Request for Religious Exemption from Flu Shot Requirement and Rescinded Offer of Employment - GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Trinity Health Grand Rapids, formerly known as Mercy Health St....more
In last term’s decision in Groff v. DeJoy, the U.S. Supreme Court significantly increased employers’ obligation to consider religious exemption requests under Title VII. Rather than the previous de minimus burden standard,...more
In Part One of this two-part bulletin, we explored the expansive meaning of religious beliefs entitled to an accommodation under Title VII and the reluctance of courts to second guess whether a belief is “religious” in...more
In September 2023, federal trial courts in Wisconsin and Kentucky issued decisions dismissing plaintiffs’ claims related to employers’ COVID-19 vaccination and testing requirements....more
Healthcare Provider Refused to Accommodate Telecommuter with Religious Exemption from COVID-19 Vaccine Requirement, Federal Agency Charges - CLEVELAND – United Healthcare Services, Inc. (United) violated federal law when...more
Florida Furniture Store Fired an Assistant Manager for Refusing to Violate Her Sincerely Held Religious Beliefs, Federal Agency Charges - BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Arkansas-based Hank’s Furniture, Inc., a retail seller of home...more
Hospital and Health Center Operator Found to Have Denied Employees Religious Exemption From Vaccine Mandate, Federal Agency Said - PHILADELPHIA -- Inspira Medical Centers, Inc., a New Jersey corporation, also known as...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
If you take on a federal contract, does that make you a state actor? No, according to a unanimous Sixth Circuit panel in Ciraci v. J.M. Smucker Company. During World War II, the Army included Smucker’s apple butter in its...more
Earlier this year, the United States Supreme Court in Biden v. Missouri, 595 U. S. ____ (2022) provided clarity for hospitals and healthcare facilities when it preliminarily upheld a vaccine mandate for health care workers...more
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) revised COVID-19 Technical Assistance Q&A clarifies how employers should evaluate employee requests for exemptions from mandatory vaccination requirements based on medical...more
As we approach the unofficial start to Summer 2022, today's new episode addresses the 10 issues that should be on the radar of all employers....more
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits employment discrimination based on religion and requires that employers provide reasonable accommodations for employees' sincerely held religious beliefs, practices and observances....more
Whether to protect the health and safety of their workplaces, to comply with governmental requirements when applicable, or a combination of the two, many employers have adopted mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies. Faced...more