Over the past few weeks, the CDC has issued updated COVID-19 guidance on a number of topics affecting the workplace, including modifying the criteria employers rely on to determine when an employee with COVID-19 may return to work. As the CDC’s COVID-19 guidance evolves, employers must ensure their COVID-19 plans and policies likewise evolve. Given these recent changes, employers should take immediate steps to modify their COVID-19 plans and policies accordingly. Depending on the location,…

Even before COVID-19 hit the United States, state and local governments were busy passing paid family and/or sick leave laws. Unlike the federal, state, and local leave laws which were enacted in response to COVID-19, these laws do not expire and have a broader application. In 2019, paid family leave laws in Washington, D.C. and Washington state, and paid sick leave laws in Michigan and Westchester County, New York took effect. Even more of these…

Summer camp closures and extended school sessions present new challenges for both working parents and for companies employing teens. The Department of Labor has offered new guidance on both issues.…

COBRA: an acronym that strikes fear (and understandable confusion) into the hearts of many employers. If you have 20 or more employees, you are subject to the often equivocal requirements of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act—and the consequences of non-compliance can be poisonous. Given the increase in COBRA-related lawsuits and the Department of Labor’s (DOL) recent revisions of its model COBRA coverage notices, this should be on the radar of all employers who may…

As shelter in place restrictions ease and U.S. workplaces begin to reopen, both union and nonunion employers may find themselves facing a host of new challenges. Employers may wonder what they should be doing to keep their employees safe at work. They may wonder what kinds of medical tests they can perform on employees before allowing them into their facilities. They may wonder whether they need to disclose to their employees when one of their…

On Monday, President Trump issued a Proclamation restricting certain foreign workers from entering the U.S. through the end of 2020, claiming it is necessary to curb the “economic contraction resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak.” The ban specifically targets work visas that many American employers rely upon to fill U.S. labor shortages. With the stated purpose of reducing competition against Americans for jobs in the U.S. economy, the Proclamation restricts visa issuance to certain H-1B professional…