Workforce Bulletin

As featured in #WorkforceWednesday:  This week, we look at the renewed focus on mandatory vaccination policies and how those policies may need to shift in light of COVID-19 booster shots.

President Biden Calls on Employers to Mandate Vaccines

Shortly after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted full approval of the Pfizer vaccine for those 16 and older, President Biden encouraged private employers to “step up” their vaccination requirements.

COVID-19 Booster Shots Raise Employment Issues

Employers with mandatory vaccine policies must now decide whether they will ...

Last week, a divided Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (“SJC”) in Osborne-Trussell v. Children’s Hospital Corp. ruled in favor of a broad interpretation of the 2014 Domestic Violence and Abuse Leave Act (“DVLA”), a law that provides certain employment protections for victims of domestic violence, including a prohibition against retaliation for seeking or using protected leave. Specifically, the DVLA prohibits an employer from taking adverse action against, or otherwise discriminating against, an employee who exercises rights under the DVLA, such as taking ...

Washington, D.C. employers have more time to get their non-compete ducks in a row. On August 23, 2021, Mayor Bowser signed the Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Support Act of 2021 (B24-0373) (the “Support Act”), which includes various statutory changes necessary to implement the D.C. FY 2022 budget. As expected, the Support Act postpones the applicability date of the Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Amendment Act of 2020 (the “Non-Compete Act”) until April 1, 2022. The postponement not only provides more time for employers to prepare for the non-compete ban—it also permits the D.C ...

As featured in #WorkforceWednesday:  This week, we look at new federal guidance recommending all employees wear masks in the workplace and unique vaccination considerations for unionized workplaces.

OSHA Updates COVID-19 Mask, Vaccination Guidance

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently updated its COVID-19 guidance, now recommending that all employees wear masks in the workplace, even if they’re vaccinated. Meanwhile, employers with unionized workforces face unique considerations with regard to vaccination polices. Attorneys Bob ...

On June 23, 2021, Governor Lamont signed Senate Bill 1202, a special session bill implementing the state budget for fiscal years 2022 and 2023.  Included in the 837-page bill is a requirement for employers to provide employees with two hours unpaid time off to vote on the day of a regular state election.  In the case of a special election for U.S. Senator, U.S. Representative, state senator, or state representative, the new requirement to provide time off applies only to employees who are "electors" (meaning already registered to vote). Thus, non-registered voters are not entitled to ...

The recent Seventh Circuit decision in Halperin v. Richards provides a reminder to ERISA fiduciaries who are also corporate officers (frequently referred to as “dual-hat officers”) that they can be held liable under both ERISA and state tort law for the same underlying acts.

When paper company Appvion Inc. filed for bankruptcy in 2017, the liquidation plan granted Appvion’s creditors the right to pursue state law tort claims against former Appvion executives.  Halperin v. Richards concerned state law claims raised by certain creditors against former Appvion executives ...

Last week, in Winegard v. Newsday LLC, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York issued a decision that may finally tee up the issue of website accessibility to be directly addressed by the Second Circuit and provided businesses without a brick and mortar presence with unexpected relief by dismissing a serial plaintiff’s putative class action lawsuit alleging that a newspaper’s failure to provide closed captions of online videos for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing violated Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“Title III” or ...

As featured in #WorkforceWednesday:  This week, we look at how the COVID-19 Delta variant is shifting employer vaccination policies and how that shift is conflicting with regulations in some states.

The Shift to Mandatory Vaccinations

The Delta variant of COVID-19 is fueling another new chapter of the pandemic: mandates. Recent federal and state action is driving a trend toward employers mandating vaccines. Read more about state action in California and New Jersey.

States Hold Firm with Passport and Mandate Bans

While the trend is shifting back toward greater caution ...

Employers in the First Circuit know that unconscionability challenges to employment arbitration agreements are commonplace. In Trainor v. Primary Residential Mortgage, Inc., the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island recently addressed an employee’s arguments that an agreement’s venue clause requiring a Rhode Island employee to arbitrate her claims in Utah and a provision excluding certain claims from the scope of the arbitration agreement rendered the arbitration agreement unconscionable and unenforceable. The court rejected the first argument based ...

There has been a recent flurry of movement – both in the courts and in state legislatures – on the marijuana law front across several states.  As we previously reported, on February 22, 2021, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed three separate cannabis reform bills into law (NJ A21, NJ A 1897, and NJ A5342/NJ S3454), formally legalizing the use and possession of recreational marijuana in the Garden State.  The new laws contain express workplace-related provisions that impact New Jersey employers by establishing non-discrimination rules for recreational cannabis users or ...