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With summer approaching and vaccination numbers surging, the United States’ population appears more than ready to return to normalcy after over a year of COVID-19 lockdown. However, while citizens and businesses alike clamor for the economy to fully reopen, President Biden has continued to urge the states to exercise caution when lifting COVID-19 restrictions. Weighing …
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The American Rescue Plan (ARP) provides $1.9 trillion dollars in economic stimulus for individuals, certain companies, and municipalities. This blog focuses specifically on what the ARP means for employers. First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) As of January 1, 2021, employers who were originally covered under the FFCRA (employers with fewer than 500 employees) were no …
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On March 2, 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued Executive Order (GA-34), which went into effect on March 10, 2021, lifting the mask mandate in Texas and increasing capacity of all businesses and facilities to 100%. When Governor Abbott made this announcement, nearly 5.7 million COVID-19 vaccination shots had been administered throughout Texas. Despite Governor …
In response to President Biden’s Executive Order requiring action to protect workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) released a comprehensive new guidance document for employers, titled: Protecting Workers: Guidance on Mitigation and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace. Although much of the guidance document focuses on safety …
As relayed in our late December piece titled: “It’s Official, the FFCRA Expires This Year. Tax Credits Available to Employers that Voluntarily Provide Paid Leave for COVID-19 Absences,” mandated FFCRA paid leave expired on December 31, 2020; however, per the federal government’s new stimulus bill (The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 referred as the “Act”), as …
Given the huge uptick in telemedicine as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued guidance (Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2020-8) that makes it clear to employers that an employee’s telehealth visit to a provider can be used to support the employee’s need for FMLA leave. The guidance comes on six …
There were rumors that with the new stimulus deal that Congress would extend FFCRA leave, but that turned out to be fake news. Upon reviewing House Speaker Pelosi’s press release discussing the stimulus deal it became clear that no, the FFCRA would not be extended to provide employees guaranteed paid leave benefits for COVID-19 qualifying …
With the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine for mass consumption, we hypothesized in our piece titled “Can Employers Make Employees Get the COVID-19 Vaccine,” that employers would be able to require employees to get the vaccine subject to limited restrictions. We further noted that our guess was based on the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission’s (EEOC) …
With two COVID-19 vaccines set to receive federal approval in the United States in the upcoming weeks, the next question is whether employers can make employees receive the vaccine. The short answer is…yes. And while the typical lawyer answer to any question is “it depends,” that concise “yes” does come with a few caveats. So, …
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As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic, employees continue to work from home in record numbers, and employers continue to scramble to adjust their business operations and employee relations policies to accommodate the so-called “new normal”. Following-up on our earlier news about the US Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) odd relaxation of certain …