Employees Miffed by Your Monitoring of Company Devices? Give Notice Now to Hopefully Avoid Annoyance LaterWe’ve talked about social media policies several times over the years, but it’s been a while since we’ve discussed monitoring your employees’ work phones, emails, and internet usage. As you most likely know, you can and probably should monitor employees’ work phones, emails, and internet usage. You never know when someone outside the business will

Don’t Run Prints: Illinois’s Biometric Privacy Law Used Against EmployersDoes your company use fingerprinting or some facial recognition scanner as part of its clock-in, clock-out process? If your company has facilities or even some contacts with Illinois (and maybe other states in the future) you should pay heed to Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) that is the subject of a new class action

Who Is That Masked Employee and Is She Vaccinated? Employers Wrestle with New CDC GuidelinesDo you trust your employees about their vaccination status, or do you need to see proof? Since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) new mask guidance came out last week, many employers have been wrestling with the question of how best to determine the COVID-19 vaccination status of their employees.

The CDC’s guidance

And Don’t Forget the Milk and Bread – Paying Employees in Weather EmergenciesWhen everyone’s phone issues that long beep indicating a hazardous weather warning, you know that weather could possibly affect your workplace. With blizzard season (or, in the South, snow flurry season) underway, we have updated this previously published group of tips on how to deal with extreme weather. 

Hurricanes, Blizzards, and That Dreaded TORCON Index

What to Do Before OSHA Comes Knocking with a COVID-19 Inspection Earlier this year, OSHA issued Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19, an educational reference designed to advise employers in all industries on implementing engineering, administrative, and work practice controls and personal protective equipment (PPE). The guidance is purely advisory and does not create new legal obligations. Nevertheless, now that OSHA is turning its attention

I’m So Confused! Just How Long Does Your COVID-19-Exposed Employee Have to Quarantine?Just when you thought you had the rules down for when and how long an employee has to quarantine, the CDC changes the rules. Or has it? In its guidance, When You Can Be Around Others After You Had or Likely Had COVID-19 (updated on December 1, 2020), the CDC hasn’t really changed its tune.

Happy Thanksgiving! 7 Things for Which We Are Thankful – 2020 EditionMany of us are understandably anxious to put the year 2020 behind us and move onward and upward! But before we all sit down at the table and fill our plates and bellies to overflowing as we start the holiday season, we can all find some bright shining blessings in what has otherwise been a

Earlier this month, voters in five states took to the ballot box and legalized some form of marijuana use. Polls show that Voters Legalize Marijuana, Employers Ask Questionstwo-thirds of Americans now favor marijuana legalization, and 59% said it should be legal for both recreational and medical purposes. This is a sharp contrast to Gallup’s first poll on the issue in

Sweatpants in the Workplace? Dress Code Considerations When Returning to the Office During a PandemicMonths of working from home have made at least one thing clear – the “Freshman 15” has nothing on the COVID-19. Boredom, stress, and ease of access to the refrigerator has caused many employees to trade in their suits for sweatpants and their heels for flip-flops. As offices see more and more employees return to