NYS Law Requires Employers to Adopt Workplace Safety Plans to Prevent Spread of Airborne Infectious Diseases
On May 5, 2021, Governor Cuomo signed into law the New York Health and Essential Rights Act (the “NY HERO Act” or the “Act”), which is intended to prevent workplace exposure to airborne infectious diseases such as COVID-19. The Governor also announced that the New York State (“NYS”) legislature will amend the NY HERO Act […]
Paid Time Off for NYS Employees for COVID-19 Vaccination
UPDATE: Governor Cuomo signed the Bill on March 12, 2021. The Bill took effect immediately upon the Governor’s signature. The New York State (“NYS”) Legislature passed a bill (“Bill”) that would allow employees of public and private employers to take paid time off to receive COVID-19 vaccinations. The Bill is set to be delivered to […]
NYC Final Rule Prohibits Hair Discrimination Based on Race or Religion
The final rule (“Final Rule”) of the New York City Commission on Human Rights (the “Commission”) prohibiting hair discrimination based on race or religion went into effect on January 30, 2021. The Final Rule expands on the legal guidance issued two years ago by the Commission that banned racial discrimination on the basis of hair. […]
OSHA Issues Guidance on Protecting Workers From COVID-19
On January 29, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) issued guidance entitled “Protecting Workers: Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace” (“Guidance”). The Guidance does not create any new obligations for employers. Rather, it provides recommendations, advice and information for employers, who have a general duty to provide […]
Watch Out for Retaliation!
On February 26, 2021, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) released details regarding workplace discrimination charges filed with the EEOC in Fiscal Year (“FY”) 2020, which ended on September 30, 2020. Of the 67,448 charges of workplace discrimination the agency received in FY 2020, more than half – 37,632 (55.8% of all charges filed) […]
NYS DOL Expands Eligibility for Partial Unemployment Benefits
As of January 18, 2021, the New York State Department of Labor (“NYS DOL”) changed its rules on eligibility for partial unemployment benefits. The NYS DOL now counts hours, not days, worked per week. Workers may be eligible for partial unemployment benefits for weeks in which they (a) work 30 or fewer hours; and (b) […]
US DOL Expands Eligibility for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance
On February 25, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) added three COVID-19 related reasons for which workers may be eligible for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (“PUA”). The three new categories of workers eligible for PUA are: Workers who received unemployment benefits but whose continued claims were denied after they refused to either return to work […]
Employers Must Initiate Interactive Process for Employees with Disabilities
Three recent cases remind employers that they are obligated to initiate the interactive process to determine reasonable accommodations for job applicants and employees with disabilities. Saint Clare’s Health hired Taylor McKay as an EMS dispatcher. Five days before her scheduled start date, McKay was hospitalized and induced into early labor due to preeclampsia, a pregnancy-related […]
Religious Teachers and the Ministerial Exception According to the US DOL
The Department of Labor (“DOL”), in its opinion letter FLSA2021-2, recently concluded that private religious school teachers may be exempt from the wage and hour requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) if such teachers qualify as “ministers.” Last summer, in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrisey-Berru, the U.S. Supreme Court expanded the […]
EEOC Addresses COVID-19 Vaccination
Numerous healthcare workers have been injected with the COVID-19 vaccine and it is only a matter of time until the vaccine becomes available to all eligible workers throughout the country. In light of this, on December 16, 2020, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) answered questions about mandatory vaccination of employees in its guidance entitled, […]
