Mississippi recently passed House Bill 1509 (the “act”) codifying employees’ right to choose whether to be vaccinated against COVID-19, which some commentators believe would limit employers’ ability to impose mandatory vaccine requirements. But private employers with vaccine mandates can breathe easy. The act does not create a basis for a wrongful termination claim against a
Questions about COVID-19 vaccines are hard, particularly if you contract or want to contract with the federal government. The scenario is familiar: You run a business that has or seeks to contract with the federal government. You read about the Biden administration’s Executive Order mandating that your employees be fully vaccinated for you to qualify
Decisions, decisions. Can you require that your employees get a COVID-19 vaccine, and if you do, can you make the employees tell you their vaccination status? This is not an easy answer and may be more complicated given the new law in Tennessee, SB 1823.
Given that COVID-19 vaccines have been available to Americans
This week, the EEOC issued new guidance regarding pandemic-related caregiver discrimination. The EEOC assumes (probably rightly) that caregiving obligations are more likely to fall on women so discrimination against caregivers often looks like sex discrimination. While the updated guidance is specific to COVID-19, is it packed full of good practices to follow regardless of the
As we all know, the Supreme Court stayed the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employers with 100 or more employees. As of today, OSHA has withdrawn that emergency temporary standard.
The announcement notes that:
Although OSHA is withdrawing the vaccination and testing ETS as an enforceable emergency temporary standard, the agency is not withdrawing the ETS
We hope your 2022 is off to a good start and you are all managing the COVID-19 pandemic challenges. For this post, we wanted to take a break from COVID-19-specific topics to remind you of some new year to dos. Specifically, EEO-1 and OSHA Injury and Illness Reporting data is due in the coming months,
By now most people in the United States are aware that the Biden Administration wants everyone to get a COVID-19 vaccine and is using OSHA, CMS, and federal contracts to accomplish that goal. The OSHA path is an emergency temporary standard (ETS) requiring employers with 100 or more employees to either mandate that all employees
In light of the difficulty of test scheduling and concerns about costs to consumers, the Biden administration this week announced that the Department of Health and Human Services will require private health insurance and group health plans to cover the cost of over-the-counter, at-home tests purchased by individuals. That requirement will go into place on
Despite all of our hopes and prayers for an end to the pandemic, we still have employees who are exposed to or testing positive for COVID-19, and we still need to figure out how to deal with those issues. The CDC issued new guidance on the length of time a non-healthcare employee must isolate or
For almost two years now, employers have been tackling the issues surrounding COVID-19. Not surprisingly most questions centered on COVID-19-specific leave, OSHA reporting requirements, and vaccines. Now, the EEOC has chimed in on something that employers may not have yet considered: When does an employee’s COVID-19 become a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act?