On October 25, 2021, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its technical assistance related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The updated and expanded COVID-19 technical assistance, “What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act,
Continue Reading COVID-19 Vaccination Religious Exemption Requests: 5 Key Takeaways From the EEOC’s Updated Technical Assistance
The battle concerning California’s Assembly Bill (AB) No. 51—the law seeking effectively to ban mandatory employment arbitration in California—continues to rage.
On October 20, 2021, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the lead plaintiff challenging AB 51, filed a petition for
Continue Reading U.S. Chamber of Commerce Asks Ninth Circuit to Reconsider Ruling Upholding California’s Mandatory Employment Arbitration Ban
Congress: Lather. Rinse. Repeat. After scuttling plans last month to vote on both a $1.2 trillion bipartisan “hard infrastructure” bill that the U.S. Senate approved, 69–30, on August 10, 2021, and a proposed $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package of
Continue Reading Beltway Buzz, October 22, 2021
In May 2019, Washington State enacted restrictions on the enforceability of noncompetition covenants. The law, which took effect on January 1, 2020, requires the state to annually adjust the income thresholds for workers who are subject to noncompetition covenants.
The
Continue Reading Washington Raises Income Thresholds for Employees, Contractors Subject to Noncompetition Covenants Nearly 6 Percent for 2022
On July 29, 2021, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto signed a COVID-19 paid sick leave ordinance granting emergency paid sick leave for certain employees for COVID-19–related reasons. The ordinance will remain in effect for one year and will expire on July
Continue Reading Pittsburgh Extends Mandatory COVID-19 Paid Sick Leave
Judge Shannon Frison, sitting in the Middlesex County Superior Court in Massachusetts, recently issued a ruling that highlights for employers the importance of providing complete and timely responses to requests for employee personnel files. Judge Frison’s ruling arose in the
Continue Reading Massachusetts Court Ruling Highlights Importance of Employer Responses to Personnel File Requests in Motions to Compel Arbitration
On October 20, 2021, California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (known as Cal/OSHA) issued proposed language for the second readoption of Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS) for COVID-19 Prevention. The readoption would provide for the proposed regulation to be in
Continue Reading Cal/OSHA Releases Proposed Language for Next Readoption of COVID-19 Prevention Emergency Temporary Standards
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas recently denied an employer’s motion for summary judgment when its alleged shifting reasons for terminating the plaintiff’s employment contract raised genuine issues of material fact as to whether those reasons
Continue Reading Consistently Inconsistent: An Example of Shifting Reasons for Employment Termination Precluding Summary Judgment
The pandemic may be waning, but the requirement for Colorado employers to provide supplemental public health emergency leave to employees under certain COVID-19–related circumstances continues. On October 15, 2021, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra announced another
Continue Reading The Public Health Emergency Supplemental Leave Requirement in Colorado Is Not Over
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued some much-needed guidance surrounding the application of deadline extensions that the IRS and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) previously issued for initial elections under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985
Continue Reading IRS Clarifies Application of Deadline Extensions to COBRA
