Epstein Becker Green’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practice is proud to present a new "Benefits Guidance in the Time of COVID-19" webinar series. You can access these courses on your own schedule. Keep up to date with a range of benefits and compensation considerations, or obtain an overview of an important topic impacting your company.
Each webinar of this limited series will be uploaded to the firm’s Coronavirus Resource Center as well as the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practice page. If you would like a list of the final episodes ...
On Monday, April 27, 2020, Governor Gregory Abbott announced Phase One of his much anticipated plan to reopen Texas, while minimizing the spread of COVID-19. Governor Abbott accompanied his announcement by issuing Texas Helping Texans: The Governor’s Report to Open Texas (“Report”), and Executive Order No. GA-18 (“EO GA-18” or “Order”), pursuant to which all retail stores, restaurants[1], movie theaters, malls, museums and libraries are allowed to reopen on Friday, May 1, 2020, with a 25% occupancy limitation. Within shopping malls and museums, all interactive ...
Consumer complaints regarding alleged price gouging have been increasing as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. Generally, price gouging occurs when there unreasonable increase the price of a consumer good (or service) during a public emergency. Although we are facing a national emergency, except for a March 23, 2020, executive order issued by President Trump prohibiting hoarding and price gouging of certain critical supplies, there is no federal price gouging law. Although there are proposal pending in Congress to more broadly prohibit price gouging, currently, the issue is ...
In March 2020, as the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States began to emerge, state and local governments took historic steps to shut down all nonessential activity in their jurisdictions. As of April 20, “at least 316 million people in at least 42 states, three counties, 10 cities, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico” were subject to some form of a government order or proclamation calling for all nonessential workers to stay-at-home (except for necessary trips to places such as pharmacies and grocery stores). Whereas these critical shelter-in-place ...
As featured in #WorkforceWednesday: The COVID-19 pandemic has created a sudden imbalance in the labor market. While many employers are implementing layoffs or furloughs, other “essential” businesses are searching for additional employees to meet demand. Attorneys Nathaniel Glasser and Ian Carleton Schaefer discuss how employers can use creative approaches to address this imbalance. Read more about the strategies for employers (subscription required).
On the heels of adding Return to Work guidance to its technical assistance for employers, “What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Law” (discussed here), on April 23, 2020 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) issued an update addressing COVID-19 testing by employers. This latest guidance acknowledges that COVID-19 presents a direct threat to the health of others sufficient to justify testing. It cautions, however, that employers should only use tests that are “accurate and reliable.” Specifically ...
As we previously reported, last year, New York State expanded its election leave law to allow employees more paid time off if needed in order to vote on Election Day (increasing the paid time off from two to three hours). However, in the State’s 2020-21 budget, signed by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo on April 3, 2020, new amendments to New York’s Election Leave Law (Election Law § 3-110) (the “Law”) undo the changes implemented by last year’s legislation and essentially reinstates the prior time-off rules, which provide that if an employee is a registered voter without ...
President Trump Signs Executive Order to “Temporarily Suspend Immigration into the United States”
On April 20, 2020, President Trump tweeted, “In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!” The vague tweet triggered many questions and concerns as to the scope of the immigration suspension and the impact it would have on many foreign nationals and their respective U.S. employers.
On the afternoon of April 22 ...
On April 16, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Executive Order N-51-20 (“Executive Order”), mandating supplemental paid sick leave for food sector workers at companies (i.e., “Hiring Entities”) with 500 or more employees. The Executive Order should help fill a gap for essential food sector workers left open under the federal Families First Coronavirus Relief Act ("FFCRA") (previously discussed here).
The Executive Order is effective immediately and remains effective during any statewide stay-at-home order. Like the recently enacted Supplemental paid ...
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently published three Unemployment Insurance Program Letters (UIPLs) offering guidance on the administration of separate sections of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or the “CARES Act,” that provide for expanded unemployment insurance benefits. While the UIPLs are directed to state agencies, the UIPLs contain helpful information for employers.
UIPL 15-20 provides guidance on the administration of section 2104 of the CARES Act, which authorizes Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC ...
Recently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (“OCIE”) issued a Risk Alert to provide broker-dealers with guidance on examinations regarding regulation Best Interest (“Reg BI”). Reg BI requires that when broker-dealers make a recommendation regarding securities to a retail customer it must act in the best interest of the customer, without placing its own financial or other interest ahead of the retail customer’s interest. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) also ...
On April 17, 2020, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) once again updated its technical assistance for employers, titled “What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws.”
Previously, the EEOC (i) on March 17, 2020, issued initial guidance on COVID-19 in a series of Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQs”) (discussed here) (ii) on March 19, updated its publication titled “Pandemic Preparedness in the Workplace and the Americans With Disabilities Act,” to address issues specifically concerning ...
As we previously reported, the COVID-19 pandemic has altered the global workplace and international employer-employee relations in profound ways. As COVID-19 continues to spread, countries have enacted nationwide orders, requiring billions of people to stay at home. Recently, in an effort to continue to slow the spread of COVID-19, several countries have extended national stay-home orders. The ordered restrictions vary according to jurisdiction specific reasons.
On April 15, 2020, Belgium’s National Security Council (“NSC”), which includes Prime ...
On April 14, 2020, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed into law a new amendment (“New Amendment”) to the New Jersey Millville Dallas Airmotive Plant Job Loss Notification Act, commonly referred to as the New Jersey WARN Act (“NJ WARN Act”), which was modified in January of this year, to among other things, require payment of severance to eligible employees who suffer a NJ WARN Act covered termination of employment and to require 90 days’ notice of such terminations (the “January Amendment,” which we discussed previously here).
The New Amendment, which was driven by ...
On April 14, 2020, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation (S2374) (the “Law”), amending the New Jersey Family Leave Act (“NJFLA”) leave. Under the Law, which repeals and replaces a March 25, 2020 amendment to the NJFLA about which we wrote here, eligible employees will be entitled to job protected leave to care for a family member as a result of an epidemic of a communicable disease, or efforts to prevent spread of a communicable disease, which:
(a) requires in-home care or treatment of a child due to the closure of the school or place of care of the child of the employee, by ...
On April 14, 2020, exactly two weeks after the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA” or “Act”), went into effect and the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued a temporary rule (“Rule”) interpreting the paid sick leave and emergency family and medical leave provisions of the Act, the Attorney General for the State of New York, Letitia James (“AG”), filed a legal challenge to that Rule. [1] In the lawsuit against the DOL, the AG alleges that various provisions of the Rule violate both the statutory language and the intent of the FFCRA.
As we previously ...
On April 13, 2020, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (“OSHA”) of the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued an industry-specific alert for the package delivery industry during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The alert provides guidance tailored to the package delivery industry, but it is equally useful for any company using its own employees to deliver goods to customers or clients.
OSHA recommends the following:
- Encourage workers to stay home if they are sick.
- Establish flexible work hours (e.g., staggered shifts) where feasible.
- Practice sensible social ...
On April 13, 2020, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (‘OSHA”) of the U.S. Department of Labor issued a guidance memorandum (“Memorandum”) to its Area Offices and compliance safety and health officers for handling COVID-19 referrals, complaints, and severe illness reports.
The Memorandum articulates the procedures OSHA will use to prioritize enforcement responses, and details measures for protecting OSHA employees from the workplace hazard of SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), i.e., the virus causing the current ...
On April 7, 2019, Governor Lamont issued Executive Order 7V (“Order 7V”), requiring that “[e]very workplace in the State of Connecticut shall take additional protective measures to reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19 between and among employees, customers, and other persons such as delivery drivers, maintenance people or others who may enter the workplace.” Order 7V, available here, directed the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) and the Department of Health (DPH) to issue “legally binding statewide rules” prescribing additional ...
On April 10, 2020, the District of Columbia enacted the COVID-19 Response Supplemental Emergency Amendment Act of 2020 (D.C. Act 23-286) (the “Emergency Act”). Among other things, Section 103 of the Emergency Act amends the Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act of 2008 (“ASSLA”) to require employers with between 50-499 employees to provide paid declared emergency leave (“DOE Paid Leave”) for any reason allowed by the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”). The Emergency Act is effective immediately and will remain in effect through July 9, 2020 ...
As we previously reported, Texas cities have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by issuing “Stay at Home” Orders, essentially halting all non-essential business operations that cannot be conducted remotely. As a result, many workers have been furloughed, laid off, or terminated, and are in the process of seeking monetary relief through unemployment insurance (“UI”) benefits. As of today, the Texas Workforce Commission (“TWC”) has helped more than 1.2 million Texans apply for unemployment benefits since March 14, 2020, and paid out more than $400 million in ...
As we previously reported in our “Summary of OSHA Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19,” the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) has provided detailed directions for employers with respect to ensuring an OSHA-compliant workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 10, 2020, the DOL issued a memorandum providing interim guidance on enforcement of OSHA’s recordkeeping requirements (29 CFR Part 1904) as they relate to recording cases of COVID-19. The memorandum, which is “intended to be time-limited to the current public health crisis,” became effective ...
On April 9, 2020, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) issued its latest guidance (“Guidance”) for employers on how to ensure compliance with their obligations under federal antidiscrimination laws during the COVID-19 pandemic. As we previously reported, the EEOC’s initial guidance on COVID-19 was released on March 17, 2020, as a series of Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQs”). Two days later, the agency updated its publication titled “Pandemic Preparedness in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act” (“ADA” ...
On April 8, 2020, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed Executive Order No. 122 (“Order 122”) requiring certain businesses that are permitted to remain open (as set forth in his prior Executive Order 107, about which we wrote about here, and other prior Orders) take specific steps to protect employees and customers from COVID-19, and directing the cessation of all non-essential construction projects. Three days later, on April 11, 2020, Gov. Murphy signed Executive Order No. 125 (“Order 125”) requiring NJ Transit and private bus and rail companies to limit rider capacity ...
On March 23, 2020, shortly after the Governors of California, New York, Connecticut and New Jersey issued orders closing non-essential businesses, we recommended that businesses review their insurance policies to determine if they had either business interruption coverage or civil authority coverage that might be available to lessen the economic blow of COVID-19. As explained here, business interruption coverage generally allows a business to recover certain losses in the event that the business suffers physical damage or loss that prevents it from operating its business ...
As featured in #WorkforceWednesday: With all the challenges businesses are facing, it is hard to stay focused on data security. Hackers see the newly remote workforce as an opportunity, and phishing attacks are on the rise. Employers can fight back in a few ways:
- Educate employees.
- Update training materials and work-from-home policies.
- Get security patches to employee devices quickly.
- Update your data breach response plan and communicate it.
- Remind your employees to help keep data secure by password-protecting devices with strong passwords and protecting sensitive ...
As we previously reported, the COVID-19 pandemic has altered the global workplace and international employer-employee relations in profound ways. As COVID-19 continues to spread, countries are enacting legislation and issuing guidance to support employers and employees as they confront the global crisis. In particular, Brazil, with a population of over 211 million, and India, with a population of approximately 1.3 billion, each has enacted measures to combat the ongoing economic and financial troubles caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Specifically, Brazil has issued ...
As the COVID-19 state of emergency continues, businesses are implementing and considering a variety of employee-related measures to manage the impact of the crisis. While some businesses may avail themselves of payroll protection programs and loans to maintain the status quo, others may be faced with having to implement reductions-in-force (RIFs), furloughs and layoffs. Added to this, employers may be faced with larger numbers of leaves of absence both because of COVID-19-related health and family care reasons, but also when certain workers have been called to duty. The ...
USCIS Completes the Initial Selection Process
On April 1, 2020, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (‘USCIS”) announced that the initial selection of H-1B cap-subject registrations for fiscal year (“FY”) 2021 was completed. Petitioners who electronically registered beneficiaries in the H-1B registration process and were selected through the random selection process may file their H-1B cap petition within the period indicated on the relevant registration selection notice. The filing period for the H-1B cap-subject petition will be at least 90 days
UPDATE: On August 10, 2020, the NJDOL formally adopted the temporary rule without change.
On March 20, 2020, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation (“Law”) prohibiting employers from taking any adverse employment action against employees who take, or request, time off due to an infectious disease that could affect others at work based on a written recommendation of a New Jersey licensed medical professional. The Law, which we summarized in a previous article, became effective upon enactment.
On April 1, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development ...
The U.S. Department of Labor has again updated its compliance assistance for the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”), in the form of “Questions and Answers.” This post summarizes the most recent Questions and Answers. Previous summaries can be found here and here.
Some of the newest answers include the following:
- Question 60: Clarifies that shelter-in-place and stay-at-home orders can qualify as federal, state, or local quarantine or isolation orders for purposes of leave under FFCRA.
- Question 61: Clarifies that an individual is eligible for paid sick ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the international workplace and international employee-employer relations in profound ways. As employees now work from home in significant numbers around the globe, multinational companies have suddenly been confronted with managing issues they may not have previously prioritized. Matters such as outfitting employees’ homes with the necessary technology to stay connected with clients and coworkers, and ensuring that employees receive sufficient ergonomics support and training to maintain a safe and healthy home office space, now are ...
As featured in #WorkforceWednesday: Last week, Congress passed and President Trump signed the CARES Act, a $2+ trillion stimulus law, which is the largest stimulus in U.S. history. Attorney Paul DeCamp discusses how this law could benefit certain employers during this unprecedented time in the following video interview.
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) continues to update its compliance assistance for the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”), in the form of “Questions and Answers.” The DOL posted a temporary rule issuing regulations pursuant to the FFCRA on April 1, 2020; while we are digesting the temporary rule and preparing a forthcoming advisory, we wanted to highlight some of the important insights of the updated FAQs. The DOL published its initial guidance on March 24, 2020, summarized in a previous post, covering the FFCRA’s paid sick and paid family leave ...
On March 31, 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) issued preliminary guidance regarding implementation of the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”), which is the $349 billion program contained in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) that provides forgivable loans to eligible small U.S. businesses to help them weather the coronavirus (“COVID-19”) crisis. The guidance consists of three advisory documents: (i) an overview of the program; (ii) information for lenders about the PPP; and (iii) information for ...
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