Labor & Employment Developments Blog

In this new podcast episode, recent cases and news from the world of Labor & Employment Law will be discussed, including:

Religious Accommodations:  Does an employer have to accommodate an employee who cannot work on Sundays and what constitutes an undue hardship. The Third Circuit considered these issues in Groff v. DeJoy.

Berling v. Gravity Diagnostics: In this recent Kentucky case, a jury awarded an employee over $450,000 when his employer ignored his request that it forego giving him a birthday party due to the employee’s panic disorder and later terminated his employment.

On March 3, 2022, the President signed into law the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021. A product of the Me Too Movement, the new law allows individuals bringing sexual assault and sexual harassment claims who entered into predispute arbitration agreements or class- or collective-action waivers to reject those agreements and waivers and bring those claims in court and via a class or collective action. The law applies to any claims arising after the date of enactment. 

The so-called gig economy is subject to a great deal of uncertainty in the labor and employment law context. The key issue is whether workers are properly classified as employees and subject to various labor and employment laws or whether they are independent contractors with a lot of flexibility but far less legal protection. This is not a new issue but the prevalence and popularity of gig economy businesses like Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and others have brought the issue into the spotlight.

The traditional test for independent contractor status is multifactored and focuses on the issue of ...

In this new podcast episode, recent cases and news from the world of Labor & Employment Law will be discussed, including:

Religious Accommodation: New cases addressing employer obligations in the area of religious accommodations under Title VII are discussed as well as the EEOC’s new guidance on COVID-19 vaccination accommodations, which was issued on March 1, 2022. 

You can find the EEOC’s complete guidance here.

The new vaccine accommodation guidance begins at Letter “L” – scroll down.

Social Media: The media recently reported on the termination of a longtime ...

Ever since the Sixth Circuit dissolved the injunction to OSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS), which mandates employers with 100 employees or more to require employees be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing and wear masks, all eyes have turned to the Supreme Court for intervention.  After hearing oral arguments on this issue on January 7, 2022, today the Court acted. In a per curiam opinion (an opinion issued in the name of the Court rather than a specific Justice), the Court reinstituted the stay which had been dissolved by the Sixth Circuit. Following the Sixth Circuit’s ...

In honor of the famous holiday song, The Twelve Days of Christmas, this episode will cover twelve thoughts on the vaccine mandates, including:

1. Current status of the mandates;
2. The Supreme Court’s consideration of the OSHA rule;
3. Timing issues created by the OSHA rule;
4. Steps for employers before the deadlines;
5. The costs associated with compliance;
6. Handling accommodation requests;
7. Issues with turnover;
8. Issues with noncompliant employees;
9. State and local laws;
10. Impact of mandates on smaller businesses;
11. Union issues;
12. Communication with employees.

Listen to the new episode of The ...

The holidays are here again and they represent a minefield for employers. It seems that every year the period of time from mid-November through the end of the year is guaranteed to generate employment litigation. With that in mind, let’s look to Charles Dickens’ beloved character Ebenezer Scrooge to give us some holiday employment law advice on 5 topics.

Hardly a day goes by without some update on the status of the various federal vaccine mandates. As of today, the OSHA ETS, the CMS Rule and the Federal Contractor Rule are all stayed nationwide.

OSHA issued its Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) effective November 5, 2021. The ETS requires employers with 100 employees or more to require employees be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing and wear masks.

In this new podcast episode, recent cases and news from the world of Labor & Employment Law will be discussed, including:

OSHA COVID-19 Vaccine Rule: This week, OSHA forwarded their draft Emergency Temporary Standard to the White House Regulatory Office, meaning that the promised rule mandating vaccines for employers with more than 100 employees may be coming soon. The immediate response to the rule when it is issued may depend on whether your business is in a state that follows federal OSHA guidelines or in a state with its own OSHA approved plan. Here is the state by state breakdown: