Employment Law Alerts

Our January 6, 2021 law alert, An Overview of New Laws Impacting Employers in 2021, indicated that the Connecticut Paid Family Medical Leave Act (PFMLA) is effective July 1, 2021. The Connecticut PFMLA website, however, indicates PFMLA deadlines and notable dates as follows: As of January 1, 2021, employers should have begun withholding employee contributions (0.5% of each paycheck) to the ...

As we usher in 2021, we should be mindful of new laws impacting the employer-employee relationship.  Changes include increases to state minimum wage rates, the end of mandated FFCRA leave, adjustments to state specific paid leave laws, and updates to employee handbooks. State Minimum Wage: The minimum wage increased in many states on January 1, 2021, including the following:  Alaska: $10.34 per ...

On December 16, 2020, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the “EEOC”) updated and expanded its technical assistance publication by adding a new section about how required COVID-19 vaccinations interact with federal law, and how the vaccinations interact with the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (“GINA”). Employers may require employees to be vaccinated if the requirement ...

On September 22, 2020, President Trump issued an Executive Order (the “Order”) stating that companies doing business with the federal government (“Federal Contractors”) are barred from promoting race or sex stereotypes or scapegoating in their training programs which create divisiveness in the workplace. Any contracts entered into on or after November 22, 2020 must contain the following ...

Employers who are considering resuming their operations (or employers who have already resumed operations) should consider the benefits of putting in place a COVID-19 waiver for employees and visitors. This can be effective for employees who decide to voluntarily return to work. Such a waiver could limit the employer’s liability in the event an employee or a visitor contracts the coronavirus in ...

On July 16, 2020, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that it is funding an in-depth statistical analysis on the EEO-1 Component 2 pay data collected for FY 2017 and 2018. In the past, covered employers were required to provide data broken down by job category, sex, race, and ethnicity. Component 2 required covered employers to provide pay data and number of hours ...

by Barry Salkin, Roberta Casper Watson and Livia Quan Aber The Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”), which was enacted as part of the CARES Act, allows businesses to borrow funds that are guaranteed by the federal government to be used to pay certain operating expenses during the COVID-19 emergency. The loan bears interest at 1% and has a maturity of two years. The loan may be forgiven if at least ...

by Barry Salkin, Roberta Casper Watson and Livia Quan Aber The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the “FFCRA”) established tax credits under the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act and the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act.  We have discussed these credits in a previous Law Alert.  Most recently, the CARES Act added an employee retention credit. The CARES Act employee retention tax ...

One of the realities created by the COVID-19 pandemic is that more employees are working remotely than ever before.  This change raises legal and business issues that have caught many companies off guard.  Companies designed policies and trained management pre-COVID19 based on the presumption that most employees worked in the physical office.  With the shift in the landscape, it is advisable to ...

by Roberta Watson, Barry Salkin and Virginia Peabody This Law Alert serves as an update to the Law Alert sent out on March 19, 2020 concerning the paid leave and group health plan provisions of The Families First Coronavirus Response Act. Effective April 1, 2020, the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (the “Sick Leave Act”) and the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act (the “FMLA Expansion ...