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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has signed the employer-friendly Employment Law Uniformity Act (HB 352) (the Act) into law. The law, which will go into effect on April 12, 2021, will apply to all future discrimination claims filed on or after that date. It will align Ohio’s discrimination law with the federal standards and other state …
Continue reading “Ohio’s Employment Law Just Got a Huge Employer-Friendly Facelift”
Employers are routinely challenged in navigating the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) test to determine independent contractor status of workers under the federal wage and hour laws. Employers regularly retain workers as independent contractors to whom employers are not obligated to pay overtime or minimum wage. As such, those employers would benefit from a clear …
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 …
As the New Year approaches, employers throughout the United States must prepare for new legislation taking effect that may impact their operations. One critical change that commonly occurs around the New Year is an increase to the minimum wage in certain jurisdictions. On January 1, 2021 (or December 31, 2020), the minimum wage will rise …
Continue reading “Minimum Wage Set to Rise in 25 States and D.C. in 2021”
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, …
Continue reading “Can Employers Make Employees Get the COVID-19 Vaccine?”
Over the years, there has been a lot of news stories about people traveling (or seeking to travel) with interesting animals. There was the incident involving a “beloved pet hamster” that was flushed down a toilet after Sprit Airlines refused to let a passenger bring the pet on a flight as an emotional support animal. …
Continue reading “Airlines to Soon Ban Emotional Support Animals on Flights”
This article originally appeared in HR News Magazine, November 2020 Edition. Most collectively bargained contracts define procedures for resolving disputes between an employee represented by the union and the employer. Such grievance procedures generally consist of two to four steps, with the final step being an arbitration hearing before a neutral arbitrator. The arbitrator is …
A Last Chance Agreement (“LCA”) is an agreement between the employee and the employer, usually as a last effort to avoid termination, where the employee must agree to the LCA as a condition of employment to keep their job. An LCA is typically structured so the employee agrees that if the employee engages in one …