On December 16, 2020, the EEOC posted a new section on vaccinations in its COVID-19-related technical assistance Q&As, only five days after the FDA granted its first Emergency Use Authorization for a COVID-19 vaccine. Section K of the EEOC’s COVID-19 Q&As (“Vaccinations”) updates and expands the EEOC’s publication “What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws,” providing information to employers and employees regarding the impact…

Originally published in Thomson Reuters Practical Law  Customer-Facing Employee Safety In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and approaching holiday season, employers with customer-facing employees, such as retail clerks and restaurant workers, should take steps to protect those employees from potentially hostile encounters with customers who challenge employers’ COVID-19 mask-wearing policies or other safety protocols. To protect customer-facing employees, employers should: Develop or revise policies on workplace violence, safety, and health to address COVID-19 issues. Train…

We recently published an update to our 50-state Shelter-In-Place / Reopening Tracker. Please see HERE. This is updated weekly. For your convenience, here is a summary of the major updates from around the country: The following states extended their state-wide orders and/or the duration of the current phase of their reopening plans: Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. The following states imposed more stringent limitations…

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) signed into law in March is set to expire December 31, 2020. The law requires covered employers with less than 500 employees to provide US-based employees with paid sick leave (up to 80 hours) and paid family care leave (up to 10 weeks) for COVID-19-related purposes. To help employers offset this cost, the government provides a special FFCRA-paid leave tax credit when employees take qualifying leave. FFCRA does…