Labor and Employment Law Update

Welcome to the Labor and Employment Law Update where attorneys from SmithAmundsen blog about management side labor and employment issues. We cover topics including addressing harassment and discrimination in the workplace, developing labor law, navigating through ADA(AA), FMLA and workers’ compensation issues, avoiding wage and hour landmines, key legislative, case law and regulatory changes and much more! Learn more about our firm at www.salawus.com.

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Latest from Labor and Employment Law Update

Contributed by Brian Wacker, April 2, 2020 The Department of Labor has issued Temporary Regulations on the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) to address an issue already causing employers fits – namely, can employees use paid sick leave under the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSLA) and expanded family and medical leave under the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act (EFMLEA) intermittently?   According to the DOL: it depends.  The employer and employee must agree to intermittent leave. First and foremost, the regulations are clear that “one basic condition” applies to all employees who seek to take…
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Contributed by John Hayes and Carlos Arévalo, April 1, 2020 gavel on white backgruound The federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act and the patchwork state-law equivalents are often overlooked when employers are considering their options regarding potential layoffs or furloughs – either permanent or temporary. Employers should be cautioned that not abiding by the requirements of the WARN Act could lead to problems down the road. The WARN Act requires employers with 100 or more employees to give an advance 60-day written notice to its displaced workers, certain third parties, and government bodies notice for a plant closing…
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Contributed by Meredith Murphy and Robert Jackson, April 1, 2020 dollar bills in hand On March 31, 2020, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service launched the Employee Retention Credit, designed to encourage businesses to keep employees on their payroll. The refundable tax credit is 50 percent of up to $10,000 in wages paid by an eligible employer whose business has been financially impacted by COVID-19. How to determine if your business qualifies for the Employee Retention Credit: The credit is available to all employers regardless of size, including tax-exempt organizations. There are only two exceptions: state and…
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Contributed by Beverly Alfon, March 31, 2020 Businesses with a unionized workforce need to consider whether their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic constitute unilateral changes under existing work terms and conditions. An employer’s duty to bargain in good faith with its employees’ union encompasses many obligations, including the duty to not make certain changes to work terms and conditions without bargaining with the union. While a union is not likely to bring an unfair labor practice charge against an employer for “benevolent” unilateral changes, a union generally has a solid basis to bring an unfair labor practice charge against…
Contributed by John Hayes, March 31, 2020 A component of the recently passed Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) requires covered employers to provide employees with paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19 starting April 1. Additionally, many states and local governments have now mandated that non-essential businesses close and that its citizens stay at home, subject to certain exceptions, often referred to as Shelter in Place (SIP) or Stay at Home orders. The question facing many employers now is whether these SIP orders trigger the paid leave requirements of the FFCRA.…
Contributed by Carlos Arévalo, March 30, 2020 At the time of passage of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), the Department of Labor (DOL) was tasked with issuing guidance on how a “small employer” might be exempt from providing paid sick leave and expanded FMLA benefits if doing so affected the business’s viability. The DOL has now issued guidance that addresses how this viability exemption can be met. Specifically, the DOL states that an employer, which includes religious or nonprofit organizations, with fewer than 50 employees (small business), is exempt from providing paid emergency sick leave and expanded…
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Contributed by Steven Jados, March 30, 2020 Studio macro of a stethoscope and digital tablet with shallow DOF evenly matched abstract on wood table background copy space On March 28, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued an update to its “Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Questions and Answers” to address, among other things, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) provisions that allow employers of “health care providers” and “emergency responders” to exclude such employees from the FFCRA’s emergency sick leave and expanded FMLA provisions. The specific questions that address the provisions for health care providers and…
Contributed by Suzanne Newcomb and Brian Wacker, March 27, 2020 On March 18, President Trump signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). A component of the FFCRA is the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSLA), which requires covered employers to provide employees with paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to the COVID-19 corona virus starting April 1. Generally, EPSLA requires covered employers to provide all employees with two weeks (up to 80-hours) of paid sick leave at the regular rate of pay when the employee is unable to work…
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Contributed by Beverly Alfon, March 27, 2020 The U.S. Senate unanimously passed the CARES Act, and it is up for vote TODAY before the U.S. House of Representatives, with a promise of swift passage. You need to pay attention. This is about more than emergency relief. Look at page 524 of the bill, which would apply to any mid-sized business that takes a loan under this Act: “Any eligible borrower applying for a direct loan under this program shall make a good-faith certification that— …. (X) that the recipient will remain neutral in any union organizing effort for…
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By Sara Zorich and Michael Wong, March 27, 2020 wage and hour For purposes of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), the regular rate of pay used to calculate an employee’s paid leave is not necessarily the employee’s base wage or salary.  According to the Department of Labor (DOL) FAQs regarding the FFCRA, the pay rate for an employee’s FFCRA leave is the average of the employee’s regular rate over a period of up to six months prior to the date the employee takes the leave.  If the employee has not worked for the employer for at least…
We are diligently reviewing the CARES Act for the sections that will most affect small and mid-sized businesses across the country. As we dive ever deeper into the Act, we will post individual section summaries to our web page. We know you are craving information on changes to small business loans and tax policy which could bring some relief to your business so we started with those. PAYCHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM – FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE THROUGH “FORGIVABLE” SBA LOANS The CARES Act expands eligibility for small business loans made under section 7(a) of the Small Business Act by enacting a new Paycheck…
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Contributed by Peter Hansen, March 26, 2020 a 3d human character a question mark As many of you know, employers with 500 or more employees are exempt from the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion and the Emergency Paid Sick Leave provisions of the Family First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). Now that the Department of Labor (DOL) released FAQs regarding the FFCRA, we know a bit more about how the DOL will count employees for the purpose of meeting the 500 employee threshold – including that it will apply the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) joint-employer analysis and…
Contributed by Julie Proscia, March 25, 2020 On March 25, 2020 the Department of Labor (DOL) released digital versions of the required notice of The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). Under the FFCRA every covered employer (covered employers include most public sector employers and all private sector employers with fewer than 500 employees) must post a notice of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) requirements in a conspicuous place on its premises. Obviously, where should you post the notice if you are remote in whole or in part? According to the DOL, since many employers have all or part of…
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Contributed by Julie Proscia, March 25, 2020 scales of justice and gavel on orange background On March 24, 2020, the Department of Labor (DOL) released the much anticipated FAQs regarding the Family First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). The DOL’s FAQs offer clarification on some of the more pressing questions that have been on employers’ minds. Of particular note is information relating to the counting of employees, commencement of the leave and compilation of the leave. Of major significance is that the FFCRA will become effective on April 1, 2020 (not April 2nd) and it is not retroactive (and,…
Contributed by guest author Matt Horn, March 24, 2020 Our clients continue asking us the same two questions about COVID-19 as it pertains to their obligations under OSHA. We include those questions and our answers below: 1. What does OSHA expect me to do to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to my employees? Answer:  OSHA has provided guidance on steps employers can take to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace. This guidance appears to relate largely to employers outside of the healthcare industry. Industry associations have also put out their own guidance, including the AGC. The AGC …