NOTE: This post has been updated for guidance from the Maryland DOL on paid leave under the Essential Workers Protection Act. Workplace guidance on COVID-19 keeps shifting at the federal and state level, which poses a challenge for all employers. For Maryland businesses, we thought it might be helpful to summarize where we stand as of early June 2021. Although Maryland remains in a state of emergency, at this time, the Governor has lifted many…

A workplace rumor, especially a salacious one involving a high echelon employee, can take on a life of its own and reverberate throughout the workplace in unforeseen ways that can result in potential liability to an employer and result in expensive litigation.  The Parker v. Reema Consulting Services, Inc. case provides guidance for employers on the issue of workplace rumors and gossip.…

As the COVID-19 vaccine has become freely available, employers have struggled with workplace vaccination protocols in the context of compliance with anti-discrimination laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act. On May 28, 2021, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission updated its What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act and other EEO Laws resource to include guidance that answers many employer questions on this topic – including the use of incentives to…

Just over two weeks after it relaxed its protocols for fully-vaccinated individuals, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has now issued revised guidance essentially permitting those individuals to resume their pre-pandemic lifestyle, subject to any applicable and differing state and local mandates. Consistent with prior iterations of this guidance, the CDC asserts that “You will still need to follow guidance at your workplace.” So what can employers do now? Well, we’ve now updated…

So my partners and I have repeatedly written that, under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), employers – not employees – get to choose among available accommodations to enable an employee with a disability to perform their essential job functions or enjoy equal privileges and benefits of employment. (See here and here, for example).  But, as a federal appellate court recently explained, that principle is not without limitation – at least as to reassignment.…

This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) further relaxed its COVID-19 protocols for fully vaccinated individuals. Of significance to employers, the CDC continues to assert that such individuals should continue to “[f]ollow guidance issued by individual employers.” But what impact might these looser rules have in the workplace? We had previously offered some guidance the last time the CDC adjusted the rules, and have now updated that guidance.…