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New York State Announces New COVID-19 Quarantine Guidelines

By Evandro Gigante, Harris Mufson, Alex Downie and Rebecca Fishbein on Posted in Coronavirus, Workplace Safety
On March 10, 2021, New York State updated its quarantine guidance for individuals exposed to COVID-19. Under this new guidance, individuals who are fully vaccinated or have recently recovered from COVID-19 are no longer required to quarantine after being exposed to someone with COVID-19, provided that certain conditions are met. This announcement brings New York … Continue Reading

Biden Administration Wage and Hour Update:  50 Days In…

By Allan Bloom on Posted in Biden Administration Coverage, FLSA, Independent Contractor, Wage and Hour
We’re 50 days into the Biden administration.  Here’s an update on where things stand with respect to wage and hour law at the federal level: On March 11, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD)—as expected—announced its proposals to rescind the Trump-era rules on independent contractor classification and joint employment. WHD’s … Continue Reading

Congress Passes American Rescue Plan: What Employers Need to Know

By Evandro Gigante, Harris Mufson, Allison Martin, Jacob P. Tucker, Alex Downie and Julia Hollreiser on Posted in Coronavirus, Leaves of Absences, Workplace Safety
On March 10, 2021, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“Rescue Plan”), a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package intended to provide continued economic relief to individuals, businesses, and state and local governments during the COVID-19 pandemic. President Biden is expected to sign the bill into law. The following is a summary of … Continue Reading

New York State Announces New COVID-19 Travel Guidelines for Fully Vaccinated Individuals

By Evandro Gigante, Harris Mufson, Alex Downie and Rebecca Fishbein on Posted in Coronavirus
*** UPDATE: This post was updated on 3/13/2021 to reflect changes to New York State’s COVID-19 Travel Advisory and to include information on Governor Cuomo’s March 11th announcement regarding quarantine requirements for travelers to New York State.*** On Wednesday, March 3, 2021, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that domestic travelers to New York State … Continue Reading

DOL Takes First Step to Revisit Independent Contractor and Tip Rules

By Allan Bloom on Posted in Biden Administration Coverage, FLSA, Wage and Hour
In accordance with the Biden administration’s January 20 regulatory freeze memorandum, the U.S Department of Labor issued proposals to delay the effective dates of the Final Rules on independent contractor classification and tip regulations by 60 days, to allow the agency “the opportunity to review and consider the questions of law, policy, and fact raised … Continue Reading

DOL Ends PAID Program

By Allan Bloom on Posted in Biden Administration Coverage, FLSA, Wage and Hour
On January 29, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that it was discontinuing the Payroll Audit Independent Determination (“PAID”) program, effective immediately.  Under the program, which began in 2018, employers could self-report wage and hour violations to the DOL with the promise that the agency would supervise a settlement of the violations without seeking liquidated … Continue Reading

DOL Begins Withdrawal of Trump-Era Opinion Letters

By Allan Bloom on Posted in Biden Administration Coverage, FLSA, Independent Contractor, Wage and Hour
As expected, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) announced the withdrawal of three opinion letters issued in the waning days of the Trump administration.  The opinion letters being withdrawn are: FLSA2021-4, which addressed whether a restaurant may institute a tip pool under the Fair Labor Standards Act that includes both servers, … Continue Reading

New York State Issues Additional Guidance on COVID-19 Quarantine Leave Law

By Evandro Gigante, Harris Mufson, Alex Downie and Rebecca Fishbein on Posted in Coronavirus, Leaves of Absences
***UPDATE: New York State has modified its Paid Family Leave COVID-19 FAQs for Employees to reflect this New York State Department of Labor guidance. We will continue to monitor New York’s COVID-19 leave law and provide updates.*** On January 20, 2021, the New York State Department of Labor issued new guidance on the state’s COVID-19 … Continue Reading

Biden DOL Tosses Trump-Era “PRO Good Guidance Rule”

By Allan Bloom on Posted in Biden Administration Coverage, FLSA, Wage and Hour
As expected, one of the first orders of business from the U.S. Department of Labor under the Biden administration was to scrap the 2020 “PRO Good Guidance Rule,” which imposed heightened burdens on the agency in connection with issuing guidance. The rule, issued last August in response to Trump’s Executive Order 13891—which directed federal agencies … Continue Reading

White House “Regulatory Freeze” Memo Dooms DOL Independent Contractor Rule

By Allan Bloom on Posted in Biden Administration Coverage, FLSA, Wage and Hour
As expected, the White House issued a memorandum to the heads of all executive departments and agencies within the first few hours after President Biden’s inauguration on January 20, requesting that they halt all non-emergency rulemaking and regulatory activity pending review by the new administration. The memo asks the executive agencies, which include the U.S. … Continue Reading

DOL Issues Opinion Letters on Administrative Exemption and Ministerial Exception

By Allan Bloom on Posted in FLSA, Wage and Hour
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued two new opinion letters on January 8, 2021, bringing the number of “lame duck” wage and hour opinion letters—issued since Election Day 2020—to six. In FLSA2021-1, WHD determined that account managers at a life sciences manufacturer qualify for the FLSA’s administrative exemption.  The account … Continue Reading

Trump DOL Issues Two More “Lame Duck” Opinion Letters, on Home-to-Office Travel Time and Live-In Caregivers

By Allan Bloom on Posted in FLSA, Wage and Hour
On December 31, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued two opinion letters—one on home-to-office travel time and one on live-in caregivers.  Such “lame duck” opinion letters—issued post-Election Day when there is a change in both administration and political party—were at one point in recent memory quite uncommon.  The Carter … Continue Reading

Congress Extends FFCRA Tax Credit into 2021, Declines to Extend FFCRA Leave

By Evandro Gigante, Harris Mufson, Alex Downie and Abigail Rosenblum on Posted in Coronavirus, Leaves of Absences
The federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”), which requires that employers with fewer than 500 employees provide sick and family leave benefits for certain COVID-19 related reasons, is due to sunset on December 31, 2020. Many believed that the FFCRA’s sick and family leave provisions would be extended into 2021 as part of the … Continue Reading

Paid Family and Medical Leave Benefits Become Available in Massachusetts on January 1st: Is Your Workplace Ready?

By Mark W. Batten, Lexie Reynolds, Thomas B. Fiascone and Heylee Bernstein on Posted in Leaves of Absences, Workplace Policies and Procedures
For Massachusetts employers, or employers with Massachusetts-based employees, Paid Family and Medical Leave (“PFML”) has been on the horizon for nearly two years. By now, you have notified your workforce about benefits and contributions, displayed a poster informing them of the same, determined the size of your workforce and who is a “covered individual,” begun … Continue Reading

EEOC Issues Guidance on COVID-19 Vaccines

By Evandro Gigante, Harris Mufson, Abigail Rosenblum and Alex Downie on Posted in Accessibility & Accommodation, Coronavirus, Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation
On December 16, the EEOC issued updated guidance for employers in light of the Food and Drug Administration’s (“FDA”) recent authorization of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.  Widespread vaccinations are largely perceived as critical in returning all employees to the workplace safely and resuming normal business operations.  As such, many employers have been grappling … Continue Reading

December 31, 2020 Deadline Looms for Illinois Employers to Conduct Sexual Harassment Training

By Steven J. Pearlman, Edward Young and Ren Morris on Posted in Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation, Workplace Policies and Procedures
As we have previously noted, effective January 1, 2020, the Illinois Human Rights Act requires Illinois employers to provide employees with sexual harassment prevention training by December 31, 2020, and on at least an annual basis thereafter.  Such training must comport with the minimum requirements established by the Illinois Department of Human Rights’ (“IDHR”) model … Continue Reading

New York Releases Guidance and FAQs on Statewide Paid Sick Leave Law

By Evandro Gigante and Laura Fant on Posted in Leaves of Absences, Workplace Policies and Procedures
New York State has released an informal guidance page, including frequently asked questions, regarding the newly enacted statewide paid sick leave law, which took effect on September 30, 2020. As we have previously reported, the law requires employers with New York employees to provide a certain amount of paid or unpaid sick leave to be … Continue Reading

Election Season and the Workplace, Part 2: Political Leave Laws

By Allan Bloom, Laura Fant and Alex Downie on Posted in Leaves of Absences, Workplace Policies and Procedures
With Election Day just around the corner, we are highlighting some of the issues facing employers in a series of posts on election-related issues. In our first installment, we looked at employee protections around political speech and activity both in and outside the workplace. In this second installment, we’ll examine employees’ rights to take time … Continue Reading

UPDATED: NYC Council Passes Bill to Align ESSTA with New York State Paid Sick Leave Law

By Evandro Gigante and Laura Fant on Posted in Leaves of Absences
*** UPDATE: Mayor de Blasio signed the bill into law on September 28, and it took effect on September 30, 2020, except as otherwise set forth below.  Additionally, the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection has announced that employers now have until January 1, 2021 to comply with the pay statement reporting requirements discussed below … Continue Reading

DOL Updates FFCRA Regulations in Light of Recent SDNY Decision

By Evandro Gigante, Laura Fant and Alex Downie on Posted in Coronavirus, Leaves of Absences
On September 11, 2020 the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued revised Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) regulations in response to a federal court decision striking down certain portions of its previous regulations. The FFCRA is a federal law that requires certain employers to provide: (1) two weeks of paid sick leave to employees … Continue Reading

EEOC Updates Its COVID-19 Guidance (Again)

By Evandro Gigante, Guy Brenner, Harris Mufson, Laura Fant and Alex Downie on Posted in Coronavirus, Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation
EEOC sealOn September 8, 2020, the EEOC released an updated technical assistance document addressing COVID-19 and the federal anti-discrimination laws enforced by the agency, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Our previous posts about the EEOC’s prior COVID-19 guidance are available here and here. The updated guidance includes 18 new questions and answers, most of … Continue Reading

DOL Reiterates That Hours Need Not Fluctuate Above and Below 40 in Fluctuating Workweek Method of Pay

By Allan Bloom on Posted in FLSA, Wage and Hour
SchedulingIn an opinion letter issued on August 31, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor restated its position that an employee’s hours need not fluctuate above and below 40 hours to qualify for the fluctuating workweek (“FWW”) method of calculating overtime pay in 29 C.F.R. § 778.114. Under the FWW method of pay, an overtime-eligible employee … Continue Reading
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