Earlier this year in April, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) made it clear that employers could lawfully test their employees for COVID-19 before entering the workplace to determine if they have COVID-19. Viral testing fit the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirement that any mandatory medical tests of employees be “job related and consistent with business necessity.”What the EEOC […]

SHLC Attorney Brett Sutton was recently interviewed by the Daily Journal, California’s largest legal newspaper, regarding AB 2043, a bill to require agricultural employers to adopt Cal/OSHA’s COVID-19 safety guidelines. SHLC represents agricultural employers across the state, including stone fruit and citrus growers as well as dairies. Read Sutton’s entire interview in the Daily Journal article below.

As business operations resume and employees return to work, employers are implementing measures to help curb the spread of the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes the disease COVID-19, including employee temperature screenings and other health checks. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has provided guidance permitting employers to measure employees’ body temperature to […]

On April 16, 2020, California Governor Newsome signed Executive Order N-51-20, which provides supplemental paid sick leave (“COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave”) for food sector workers who work for a hiring entity that has 500 or more employees nationwide for certain circumstances related to COVID-19. The type of food sector workers the Executive Order covers ranges from farmworkers to those […]

With COVID-19 stay-at-home orders resulting in the closure of many businesses’ physical locations, employers able to convert to telework have been able to continue operating during the recent period of forced isolation.  While this flexibility has allowed some companies to avoid the dire consequences other businesses face, telework presents other issues companies must keep in mind. In particular, for California […]

Despite emergency legislation passed last month to support businesses dealing with the effects of COVID-19, the pandemic continues to force many employers to reduce payrolls.  Employers considering significant reductions to their workforce must be mindful of requirements under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (“WARN”) Act and similar laws in some states, including California. First Things First: Considering Alternatives […]

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is attempting to clarify how workplace anti-discrimination laws are to be applied in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recommendations of the CDC and WHO. In the EEOC’s March 27, 2020 webinar, Carol Miaskoff, Associate Legal Counsel for the EEOC, and her colleagues explained that the current crisis permits employers to ask questions […]

The Secretary of Labor promulgated two dozen new regulations to aid in the implementation of the leave provisions in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) signed by the president on March 18th.  The new regulations cover everything from defining the term “child” to the procedure for filing a complaint for non-compliance.  Among the highlights, the regulations clarify the following: […]

As California employers begin to digest new federal legislation mandating and funding extended paid leave benefits relating to COVID-19, employers must also be mindful of state and local requirements for employee paid sick leave.  In this post, we examine the latest developments addressing paid sick leave by Los Angeles, San Francisco, Emeryville, Oakland, San Diego, Santa Monica, Berkeley, and San […]

On March 28, 2020, the DOL updated its “Question and Answers” page for the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”), providing additional guidance on a number of topics relating to employer and employee responsibilities and rights under the Act.  The FFCRA is the emergency legislation requiring employers with less than 500 employees to provide paid short- and long-term leave for […]