New York Governor Kathy Hochul has again extended the designation of COVID-19 as a “highly contagious communicable disease” and thereby kept the provisions of the Health and Essential Rights Act (HERO Act) in full force and effect. The designation, now extended to February 15, triggers obligations for New York employers to keep their airborne infectious…
Read More »New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy this week signed into law A6246 / S4295, legislation that was passed on the last day of the prior session. Currently, the law applies only to hotel owners, but the possibility that it could be replicated for other industries (including QSRs) is concerning. The law provides significant restrictions on the…
Read More »Yesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled that the employer mandate imposed by the Biden administration exceeds the authority of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) putting an end to the vax or test mandate. The decision comes just days after the mandate technically took effect on January 4, although the…
Read More »We may collectively be looking past the current unionizing troubles befalling Starbucks, but franchisees who do, do so at their own peril! Last week, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) certified union representation for the second Starbucks store in the Buffalo market. The union effort that ended on December 8 was originally reported to have…
Read More »Although it is no doubt not “top of mind” for many at this point, the window for collecting and submitting EEO-1 employment data has been shortened. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) last week announced that the EEO-1 Component 1 data collection portal would be opening on April 12, 2022 with the deadline for filing…
Read More »The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) will hold a special session today, January 7, 2022, to hear oral arguments on the large employer vaccinate-or-test mandate of the Biden administration. You’ll recall that the Appellate Court for the 5th Circuit Court had previously issued a temporary restraining order against the mandate back in November.…
Read More »The Department of Justice along with Health and Human Services have issued an updated guidance relating questions of applicability of COVID-19 under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The guidance defines “long-COVID” which includes issues resulting from COVID exposure that last four or more weeks. In the wake of that guidance, the Equal Employment Opportunity…
Read More »Effective January 1, HB 3582 took effect and expanded the types of crimes for which victims are entitled to take leave under the Victims’ Economic Security and Safety Act (VESSA). With enactment of the law, VESSA leave, which was previously limited to sexual or domestic violence, is now available to workers in Illinois who are…
Read More »The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued guidance for employers regarding the retroactive termination of the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC). As you know, when it was first introduced as a part of the CARES Act back in 2020, the ERTC applied only to 2020 as it was scheduled to sunset on December 31, 2020.…
Read More »Just a couple of weeks ago, we told you that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) had extended the deadline for filing amici and/or public comments briefs in anticipation of reconsidering and reversing the “make whole” standard it applied to cases involving alleged non-payment of wages decisions. Well, this week the Board announced it was…
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