On May 9, 2023, the United States Department of Health and Human Services issued a press release announcing that the federal Public Health Emergency for COVID-19 would expire on May 11, 2023. The Public Health Emergency has been renewed 13 times since it was first issued on January 31, 2020, at a time when there were only six known cases of COVID-19 and no known deaths in the United States. In declaring the end of the Public Health Emergency, the Department of Health and Human Services cited the success of the Biden-Harris Administration in effectively implementing the largest adult ...

On March 1, 2022, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) updated its guidance on how best to approach employee accommodation requests for those opposed to employer COVID-19 vaccine requirements because of their religious beliefs. 

As a quick refresher, the EEOC enforces Title VII which prohibits employment discrimination based on religion.  Employers are required to reasonably accommodate applicants and employees who have sincerely held religious beliefs to enable them to perform the essential functions of their jobs and where their beliefs may conflict ...

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) withdrew its COVID-19 vaccination and testing emergency temporary standard (“ETS”) as of January 26, 2022. The ETS had mandated that employers with 100 or more employees require all employees to get fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or wear face coverings and undergo weekly testing in lieu of vaccination. This action came shortly after the United States Supreme Court stayed the implementation of the ETS. 

Although OSHA has withdrawn the ETS as an emergency temporary standard, it has announced that it ...

As we approach the second anniversary of the first confirmed U.S. case of COVID-19, it is hard to believe that we are two years into this global pandemic. Pre-2020, we likely never imagined we’d use the phrase “unprecedented times” so often, that toilet paper would become the hottest commodity for a time, or that we would contribute to a massive surge in shares of a company called Zoom. For many of us, our work lives changed in a number of ways, one of which being that the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) created standards designed to ...

On December 14, 2021, the EEOC issued new guidance in its COVID-19 technical assistance FAQs, clarifying the circumstances under which COVID-19 may be considered a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the federal Rehabilitation Act. “This update to our COVID-19 information provides an additional resource for employees and employers facing the varied manifestations of COVID-19,” according to EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows. “Like effects from other diseases, effects from COVID-19 can lead to a disability protected under the laws the EEOC enforces ...

Many of you saw our Client Alert detailing the requirements of the Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on November 4, 2021.  The ETS applies to employers with 100 employees or more and contains COVID-19 vaccine and/or testing requirements that employers must adopt to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission in the workplace.

On November 12, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a ruling imposing a stay on enforcement of the ETS.  The federal appellate court ordered OSHA to “take no ...

On October 25, 2021, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) updated its COVID-19 guidance yet again. This time, the updates focused on religious accommodations to vaccine mandates under Title VII. 

As background, similar to disability accommodations, employers are required to reasonably accommodate applicants and employees who have sincerely held religious beliefs to enable them to perform the essential functions of their jobs and where their beliefs may conflict with company policy. However, employers have a lower burden than with disability ...

In the wake of President Biden’s issuance of executive orders requiring that certain employers in the country require COVID-19 vaccinations, some states, like Texas, are taking action to try to block these mandates. This raises the question of whether a state or local government can override federal vaccine requirements.

Federal Vaccine Mandates

On September 9, 2021, President Biden issued executive orders mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for federal employees, employees of certain health care entities, and certain employees of federal contractors and subcontractors ...

EEOC Updates Guidance on COVID-19 and the ADA

On October 13, 2021, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) updated its guidance regarding vaccination and other COVID-related workplace issues, providing businesses with important information as they continue to navigate evolving rules and regulations related to the pandemic. The key development from this round of updates is that the EEOC has now clarified that there is no cap or limit under federal employment discrimination laws enforced by the EEOC on the size of vaccine incentives offered by an employer to ...

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”), some individuals may experience post-COVID-19 conditions that involve a wide range of long-term health problems. Per the CDC, these post COVID-19 conditions may be known as “long COVID, long-haul COVID, post-acute COVID-19, long-term effects of COVID, or chronic COVID.” [1] These long-COVID symptoms can include:

• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• Tiredness or fatigue
• Symptoms that get worse after physical or mental activities
• Difficulty thinking or concentrating (sometimes referred to ...

Remember back in May 2021 (May 13 to be exact!) when the CDC dropped bombshell recommendations which outlined what individuals could / could not do based on vaccination status?! Vaccinated individuals rejoiced that they could remove their masks inside and largely dispense with social distancing. Unvaccinated individuals were, of course, less enthused. At that time, OSHA guidance had been to not treat employees differently based on vaccination status. The agency fairly quickly pivoted, affixing this banner to the top of its website on May 18, 2021:  

“The Centers for Disease ...

Yesterday, on July 27, 2021, the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) issued new COVID-19 guidance, including recommending face masks even for vaccinated people when they are in indoor public settings in geographic areas with substantial or high COVID-19 transmission rates, as mapped from time to time by the CDC. The CDC:

• Updated guidance for fully vaccinated people given new evidence on the degree to which the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant is currently circulating in the United States and its high contagion factor.
• Recommended that fully vaccinated people wear a mask in public ...

On June 10, 2021, OSHA released a long-awaited new Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”), which establishes new mandatory workplace safety requirements for employers providing healthcare services or healthcare support services. The ETS aims to protect employees from exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace by requiring the following:

• a COVID-19 plan based on an assessment of COVID-19 hazards;
• patient screening;
• transmission-based precautions;
• continued personal protective equipment (PPE) usage;
• social distancing while indoors;
• proper cleaning and disinfecting ...

The gig economy is an industry that is generally characterized by the prevalence of short-term contracts, freelance work, and indefinite flexible working arrangements. It also usually comes with getting work through some type of online or app-based digital platform. The unifying factor in all of these companies is that they are managing independent contractors and freelancers who have signed up to perform task services for the ultimate end user. From a legal perspective, this is very different from the traditional employee model. In a recent podcast, we explored the impacts of the ...

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued an important update to its COVID-19 guidance. Most notably, the update provides long-awaited guidance on mandatory vaccination policies and vaccination incentives—both of which we discussed in earlier blog posts and client alerts. 

Mandatory Vaccinations

The EEOC’s updated guidance makes clear that, under employment discrimination laws, an employer can require its employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19 before physically entering the workplace, subject to the reasonable accommodation provisions of the ...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently issued new guidance regarding what activities fully vaccinated people may safely engage in. The CDC stated that fully vaccinated individuals can resume activities without wearing a mask or staying 6 feet apart, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal or territorial laws, rules and regulations. In response to the CDC’s new guidance, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) added a statement to its January 2021 guidance stating that OSHA is reviewing the recent CDC guidance and will ...

A: California employers (including public entities) with more than 25 employees nationally.

Q. Who is eligible for the SB 95 leave?

On Thursday, March 11, 2021, President Biden signed an historic $1.9 Trillion COVID-19 Relief Package known as the American Rescue Plan Act. You may be (rightfully) thinking, “wow, that’s a lot of money, what’s in it for me?!” In fact, many Americans will receive direct stimulus checks aimed at helping to offset widespread economic strain caused by the pandemic. Whether you use the money to pay overdue bills or towards a new car is up to you, and either way the economy will theoretically be improved. In addition to the personal funds the federal government is sending to millions ...

• Time off from work to get vaccinated, often with pay
• Incentive bonus (for example, $100)
• Gift cards

• Check the COVID-19 infection rates in your area, which can be accomplished by consulting the applicable state and local health ...

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the landscape for all employers. Most have had to lay off or furlough a significant number of employees and institute other cost-cutting measures, such as salary decreases, discontinuation of 401(k) matching programs, and hours reductions. For those still operating, they face the challenge of keeping their employees safe while still meeting their customers demands, priorities that are not always aligned. 

In this environment, labor unions have been fighting to insert themselves into these critical management decisions in the name ...

In the continued wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous states have recently taken steps, through either new legislation or executive orders issued by governors, to expand both workers compensation and unemployment benefits in circumstances tied to COVID-19. We highlight Minnesota developments as examples.

Workers Compensation Benefits for Essential Workers:  

Public health officials and business leaders are grappling with how to respond to the increasing number of presumptive and confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the United States. Seattle has closed public schools for two weeks in light of coronavirus and banned large gatherings, including sporting events. This week, many higher education institutions, including the University of Minnesota, Duke University, Georgetown, and the University of Notre Dame, canceled in-person classes and announced that they are temporarily switching to an online learning environment. Nationally ...