Workforce Bulletin

As we approach the last quarter of 2020 and the business community begins to plan ahead for 2021, New York employers should be aware of the changes coming to the New York Paid Family Leave (“NYPFL”) program. On January 1, 2021, the amount of employee contributions, the number of weeks of leave and benefits, and the amount of weekly benefits granted under the program are scheduled to increase. This will be the last of three annual increases in weekly benefits.

The NYPFL program, which took effect in 2018, provides partially-paid, job-protected leave for bonding with a new baby, caring ...

Part 6 of a series featuring our video Rules of the Road: Return to Work in the Time of COVID-19.

Simple in theory. Challenging in practice.

While we all intuitively know that we should stay home when we are feeling unwell, a fall 2019 survey suggests just the opposite—that approximately 90% of workers generally “push through” and come to work anyway. The reality is that employees come to work when they are sick for a myriad of reasons: to stay atop long to-do lists, meet production goals, because they think the business would crumble without them, or that somehow taking a sick day and ...

Updates to USCIS Policy on New Forms, Premium Processing, and Filing Fee Increases Take Effect on October 2, 2020

As previously reported in Epstein Becker Green’s August 2020 Immigration Alert, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced that it will increase filing fees effective October 2, 2020.  In line with the announcement, USCIS has updated its Policy Manual and the Federal Register with the following changes:

• USCIS will revise the edition date of certain forms. As a result, any affected form filed on or after October 2, 2020, that does not possess the ...

On August 13, 2020, 11 years after the enactment of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the “FW Act”), Australian employers received guidance from the High Court regarding how to count the entitlement to “10 days” of personal leave per year of employment, as required under Section 96 of the FW Act.

The High Court determined that employees’ leave entitlement is equivalent to the average of employees’ “ordinary hours” of work over the course of a two-week period (i.e., 1/26^th of the ordinary hours of work in a year) and not 10 “working days” of paid leave per year. This ...

As we have previously highlighted, many countries have introduced creative new approaches to address the economic realities of the COVID-19 pandemic.  As employees continue to work from home and employers reconsider whether employees must return to the workplace at all, some jurisdictions are implementing measures to accommodate the needs and interests of both employers and employees in the ever-changing and evolving employment environment.  Luxembourg is yet another example of a country that has sought to develop solutions with its neighboring nations to ease the economic ...

On September 8, 2020, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) released updates to its What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws Technical Assistance Questions and Answers (“FAQs”), addressing questions largely focused on return-to-work questions and concerns such as permissible and impermissible inquiries, reasonable accommodation and confidentiality of employee health information.

Notable additions to the FAQs include clarification regarding the types of questions employers may ask as employees ...

Part 5 of a series featuring our video Rules of the Road: Return to Work in the Time of COVID-19.

By now, those who have been following this series know the basics. You’ve formulated (or are in the process of formulating) a “return to work” plan, which includes, among other things, implementing policies and guidelines consistent with CDC recommendations (wear masks), as well as other best practices that most of us learned, or should have learned, by the time we were potty-trained (wash your hands), if not by the time we were in elementary school (no touching).

But once businesses ...

As has been true for so many issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, growing concerns about safely voting in the 2020 elections are beginning to permeate the workplace, prompting employers nationwide to create or revise policies to address employee apprehensions about voting amidst a pandemic. Time to Vote, a self-described “business-led, nonpartisan coalition that aims to increase voter participation in the U.S. elections,” founded by numerous major companies, reports that, as of August 27, 2020, more than 700 companies, representing about two million workers, have ...

Following up on our recent post about a business interruption insurance decision by a Washington D.C. court, a federal judge in Missouri ruled last month, in Studio 417, Inc., et al. v. The Cincinnati Ins. Comp., No. 20-cv-03127-SRB, that businesses can sue their insurance carrier for business interruption losses caused by COVID-19.

Plaintiffs, owners of a hair salon and various restaurants (the “Insureds”) purchased an all risks policy from Cincinnati Insurance Company (the “Insurer”). As a result of losses sustained due to COVID-19, the Insureds sought business ...

As featured in #WorkforceWednesday:  Employers are reevaluating plans after Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reversals, and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) offers clarification on wage and hour issues related to the pandemic.

Video: YouTube, Vimeo, MP4, Instagram.