Category: Employment and Labor Law
Update from OSHA and the ETS
There is an update on the status of OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) following the decision by the Supreme Court staying the implementation of the standard pending the outcome of the litigation in the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. As of January 25, OSHA announced that it is withdrawing the ETS, which also ends the …
The CDC Updates Recommended Isolation and Quarantine Periods
Last week, the CDC updated its COVID-19 guidance with regard to isolating and quarantine. According to the agency, “The change is motivated by science demonstrating that the majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the 1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after.” The update …
Supreme Court Will Hear Arguments on Challenge to ETS But Compliance Deadlines are Still in Place
You may have seen in the news that the US Supreme Court has agreed to hear oral argument on the ETS and the stay that has been lifted, pending full review by the Court. The argument is scheduled for January 7. However, the current deadlines for compliance with the ETS continue to be January 10 …
Compliance with the ETS: Initial Determination of Employee Threshold
In order to assist our clients in preparing for the new deadlines for compliance with OSHA’s ETS, this update addresses the preliminary issue of how an employer should calculate whether they meet the 100 employee threshold. The ETS provides some information about how to calculate that number. All employees are counted, including full time, part-time, …
Important Update on Osha’s Ets Mandate With New Deadlines for Compliance
On Friday, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the stay on OSHA’s ETS mandate. The mandate applies to employers with at least 100 employers and requires covered employers to, among other things, require either vaccination or weekly COVID testing. Our readers will recall that in early November, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals had …
Update on Status of CMS Vaccine Mandate
As our readers know, on November 5, CMS issued a vaccine mandate which applied to defined “staff” at Medicare- or Medicaid-certified facilities (which were detailed in the mandate) be vaccinated against COVID-19 by certain deadlines, the first of which was December 5, 2021 and the second of which was January 4, 2022. As of yesterday, …
Boosters Now Available to All Adults; Does this Change Employer Obligations?
The FDA and the CDC have recently approved all adults to receive a booster shot six months after their second initial vaccination round. One question that has raised is whether employers now need to take action to encourage and/or require a booster shot on top of the original vaccination. At this time, the CDC’s definition …
Some Action by OSHA on the ETS; Still a Waiting Game
Many employers are anxiously awaiting the updated ETS from OSHA following President Biden’s September 9 announcement that the agency would be issuing the standard requiring, among other things that covered businesses require their employees be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing, and that covered businesses provide paid time off to be vaccinated or recover from any …
Important Updates in Employment: Legislation and Minimum Wage Changes
I. New Legislation Requires Attention Before Effective Date of October 18, 2021 There are several pieces of new legislation that take effect as of October 18, 2021, which necessitate changes to handbook policies/procedures. A summary of some of those changes follows: A. Expanded Eligibility for Protected Family Leave This law amends Maine’s Family Medical Leave …
OSHA Issues Revised Guidance Following the CDC: What Does “Recommended” Mean?
For those who attended our Zoom presentation last week, you know that as of that time OSHA had not yet issued detailed guidance in response to the recent CDC masking recommendations. That changed on Friday, August 13. OSHA issued an update to its document entitled “Protecting Workers Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of …