An Essential Resource for Employers
On Monday, November 15, after Congress passed a $1 trillion infrastructure bill, President Biden signed it into law. This law will pour billions into roads and bridges, transit, broadband services, airports, waterways and more. Although a majority of the provisions are related to physical structures and developments, several provisions relate to labor and employment:
As we previously reported here, the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation conducted a lottery to determine which of the thirteen federal appeals courts would hear the consolidated cases challenging the Occupational Health and Safety Administration’s (OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) on COVID-19 vaccination or masking/testing requirements for large employers.… Continue Reading
On November 10, 2021, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) issued a Memorandum outlining employers’ duty to bargain with unions over the implementation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS).
The Memo provides that employers have bargaining obligations regarding aspects of the ETS that affect terms and conditions of employment, to the extent the ETS provides employers with choices regarding implementation.… Continue Reading
The Biden Administration has announced vaccine mandates for certain federal contractors and subcontractors, employees of large, private employers, and certain health care workers, all of which are slated to take effect January 4, 2022, with some steps required no later than December 5, 2021.
With the deadlines quickly approaching, review the full Alert from Ballard’s Labor and Employment Group here.… Continue Reading
The deadline for covered federal contractors to comply with the vaccine mandate was extended from December 8 to January 4. For more information on the mandate, read our September post. The Safer Federal Workforce Task Force also updated its FAQs on the mandate to address coverage for affiliated entities.
This extension of the deadline comes at the same time that OSHA issued an Emergency Temporary Standard that requires most private-sector employers with 100 or more employees to have their employees vaccinated or test weekly by January 4. … Continue Reading
On Thursday, November 4, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced an Interim Final Rule requiring that all staff employed by covered Medicare- and Medicaid-certified providers must receive a first COVID-19 vaccine dose by December 5 and have received both doses of a two-vaccine series by January 4 unless they have been granted a medical or religious exemption.… Continue Reading
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (”OSHA”) has issued its long-awaited Emergency Temporary Standard requiring employers with 100 or more employees to mandate that each worker be fully vaccinated, or subject to at least weekly testing, by January 4. Public employers are not covered by OSHA and will not be subject to the rule. … Continue Reading
The Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced publication of the Dual Jobs final rule. This rule finalizes the DOL’s proposal to withdraw one portion of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) tip rule that was finalized in 2020. Employers who employ workers engaged in tipped work, like servers and bartenders, need to consider how this rule impacts their operations and tipped employee pay.… Continue Reading
On Monday, as it has done periodically throughout the pandemic, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) updated its now-lengthy technical assistance related to COVID-19. This new guidance comes as U.S. employers increasingly have abandoned encouraging or incentivizing vaccinations for their workforces in favor of vaccine mandates, in an effort to get their employees back to work on site (for those who have been working remotely) and in a determined effort to curb the spread of the disease among those who have been working throughout the pandemic or who are just returning to the workplace.… Continue Reading
A three-judge panel for the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the lower court’s order denying plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction against Maine’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate requiring healthcare workers to be vaccinated. Plaintiffs in the case had argued that exceptions to the mandate must be permitted for religious objections.… Continue Reading
