As featured in #WorkforceWednesday: This week, we look at leadership changes and new religious guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
On his first day in Office, President Biden issued Executive Order 13985, “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government” (“Executive Order”), stating that “[i]t is . . . the policy of [his] Administration that the Federal Government should pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all.” The Executive Order revokes President Trump’s Executive Order 13950, which had imposed restrictions on workplace diversity training under the guise of combatting race and sex stereotyping.
As we reported in our ...
As featured in #WorkforceWednesday: In early January, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued proposed rules on using incentives to encourage employee participation in wellness programs. While we don’t know exactly how President Biden’s EEOC will adjust the proposed rules, attorney Frank Morris explains why employers should keep the rules in mind when offering incentives to employees for COVID-19 vaccination. Read more.
On January 21, 2021, in an effort to provide enforcement of more stringent worker safety standards, President Biden issued an Executive Order (‘EO”) on Protecting Worker Health and Safety. The EO specifically orders the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) of the Department of Labor to:
- issue, within two weeks of the date of the EO, revised guidance to employers on workplace safety during the COVID-19 pandemic;
- consider whether any emergency temporary standards on COVID-19, including with respect to masks in the workplace, are necessary, and if such ...
On December 21, 2020, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (CAA) which modifies or extends to March 14, 2021 many of the relief programs first created in March 2020 by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), including three expanded unemployment insurance benefits programs (which we previously blogged about here) and a new benefit program for “mixed earners”. We provide here a summary of the updates to those programs.
Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation
The CAA includes a modified version of the Federal Pandemic ...
As featured in #WorkforceWednesday: This week, President Biden takes office, making combatting COVID-19 his top priority. Employers are also planning ways to incentivize employee vaccination.
Many employers have established wellness programs to promote employee health and, in doing so, help counter the ever increasing costs associated with employer-sponsored health benefit plans. Often employers want to establish programs that provide employees with incentives to achieve certain health outcomes, such as smoking cessation or weight loss. Employers must exercise caution in creating such health-contingent wellness programs, which necessarily require employees to disclose health information, because the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and the ...
On January 14, 2021, President-elect Joe Biden released his $1.9 trillion emergency stimulus plan, designed primarily to guide the country through the next medical and economic stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The American Rescue Plan (“ARP”) also includes non-COVID-19 related proposals, such as a mandatory $15 per hour minimum wage and funding to improve cybersecurity.
The following is a non-comprehensive overview of the ARP, which will require Congressional legislative passage.
On December 27, 2020, President Donald Trump signed into law a $900 billion pandemic relief bill that provides extended relief for qualified student loan borrowers. Known as the “Heroes Act,” the stimulus package is a win for borrowers seeking student loan repayment from their employers.
The initial $2.2 trillion stimulus package that Congress passed in March 2020 – the “Cares Act” –temporarily expanded Section 127 of the Internal Revenue Code (the “IRC”) to permit employers to make tax-free payments of up to $5,250 during calendar year 2020 towards employees’ ...
As featured in #WorkforceWednesday: With President-Elect Biden's inauguration next week, and the Democrats taking a narrow majority in both houses of Congress, we’re likely to see shifts in policy at the agencies that regulate employment. Attorney Robert O'Hara discusses what we're likely to see coming out of the EEOC in the near term, and how the change in party control could affect the agency moving forward.
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