Several employer groups jointly wrote to the EEOC at the beginning of the month asking the EEOC to clarify the extent to which employers may offer financial incentives to employees who take the COVID-19 vaccine without running afoul of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Under the ADA, employee wellness programs must be truly “voluntary.”
Do employers have to report employee COVID-19 diagnoses, hospitalizations, and deaths?
The short answer, like many under the law, is maybe. Under 1904.39, employers must record and report the following to OSHA by calling or submitting a report online: a fatality (within 8 hours), in-patient hospitalization (within 24 hours), amputation (within 24 hours), or loss
On December 27, 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, HR 133, the most recent COVID-19 relief and stimulus bill, was signed into law. The law extends some of the previously enacted relief provisions and ends others. The key provisions are summarized below.
COVID-19 paid sick and family leave – voluntary but eligible for an employer
I had been receiving calls about whether employers can require employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine once it is available to the general public. My guidance had been based on instinct and outdated guidance on pandemic flu. Yesterday, the EEOC released guidance on mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations. The long and short of it: It is
The CDC made it much more difficult for employers, schools, and businesses to determine who should be quarantined when a confirmed positive COVID-19 infection occurs. A close contact is now defined as being within 6 feet of an infected person for 15 cumulative minutes in a day–versus 15 consecutive minutes at one time.
Last week,
Allowing non-exempt workers to work unsupervised from home has always been a big no-no in the wage-hour world. Allowing this exposes the employer to claims for unpaid hours, and unpaid overtime, from federal, state, and local laws with unforgiving penalties. Recognizing the number of non-exempt employees working from home during the coronavirus pandemic, the federal
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) revised its April 1, 2020 regulations about who qualifies for emergency sick leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) after parts of its prior regulations were struck down by a New York federal court on August 3, 2020 (see earlier blog post). The NY court struck
On September 14, 2020, Ohio passed and the Governor signed House Bill 606, which provides qualified immunity to healthcare providers and employers who are accused of spreading COVID-19. It will become effective on December 13, 2020 (90 days after signed into law).
Section 1 of the law provides qualified immunity to healthcare providers providing services
The EEOC updated its Q&As on COVID-19 and the pandemic in light of the ADA and Rehabilitation Act. The highlights are as follows:
On August 8, 2020, President Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum allowing employees to have a tax “holiday” deferring the normal employee payroll tax withholding for social security (6.2% of wages) from September 1-December 31, 2020. This was designed to provide a much needed boost to employees in their take-home pay. Unfortunately, it comes with a