As COVID-19 vaccines become more readily available to more people and states ease gathering restrictions, employees are steadily, if slowly, returning to the office. As life returns to a semblance of normal, I wonder if employers will see an increase in requests from employees to bring their emotional support animals (“ESAs”) to work. Indeed, mental health conditions continue to soar across the country, with many employees cooped up at home with only their…

Yeah, I know, let’s talk about the adorable animals your employees want to bring in to work. That’s tomorrow, but first, a word about COBRA under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA). As we have parsed through new paid sick and medical leave language under this new law, on April 7, 2021, the U.S. Department Of Labor (DOL) dropped some helpful Q&A guidance about ARPA’s effect on COBRA. You know, COBRA, the…

If you thought sexual harassment abated during COVID-19, think again. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) continues to follow its strategic plan and filed suit this week against one Virginia-based company that owns several IHOP franchises for a manager’s alleged sexual harassment of female employees. Particularly notable, several of the female employees are teenagers. Specifically, the EEOC alleged: The manager asked “teen workers to show their breasts to him”; The manager exposed himself to a…

This past week, Georgetown Law School fired one of its adjunct professors, a lawyer, mediator, and veteran adjunct professor at the school for 20 years for making race-based stereotyping comments. Here’s what happened: the adjunct professor, Sandra Sellers, and a colleague were talking at the end of their virtual class, which was still recording, about the evaluation of Black students. In the video clip, Ms. Sellers said this: You know what? I hate to say…

BIG news yesterday! No, I’m not talking about Oprah’s Sunday tell-all interview. (But did you see that??) Image by Please Don’t sell My Artwork AS IS from Pixabay Rather, yesterday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a clear and succinct guidance document yesterday about what fully vaccinated folks can do now and what remains the same despite the growing disbursement of the COVID-19 vaccine. Without further ado, here are the CDC’s new …

Thanks to my privacy law partner Marty Robins, this morning, I read in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) this morning that some large employers have received permission from public health authorities to administer COVID-19 vaccines to their employees in-house. Efficient, I thought. Vaccination in the workplace helps remove transit and time-off challenges for hourly workers, and it does efficiently get doses to those in high-risk positions, such as those where social distancing isn’t possible.…