Employment

Mintz’s Annual Employment Law Summit brought together thought leaders to discuss the most pressing issues employers are facing in today’s unprecedented work environment. Attendees heard presentations on the continued impact of COVID-19; social justice and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives; recent and anticipated changes to employment laws; and best practices for managing sensitive employee situations.

In this inaugural episode in our series, Mintz’s Alden Bianchi interviews Marsh & McLennan Agency’s Bob Clark to explore the basics of retirement plan governance, with a particular focus on the following topics:

On February 26, 2021, the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued Notice 2021-01 (the “Notice”). The Notice was issued jointly with the Department of the Treasury, the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Health and Human Services (the “Departments”). Entitled “Guidance on Continuation of Relief for Employee Benefit Plans and Plan Participants and Beneficiaries Due to the COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus) Outbreak,” the Notice provides much needed guidance to group health plan sponsors on (among other things) when COBRA notice and election periods, which had been previously extended [in May 2020], will come to an end. This guidance was necessary because earlier regulatory relief extending COBRA notice and election periods was about to expire as a result of a statutory deadline. This post explains the impact of the Notice on sponsors of group health plans.

As COVID-19 vaccines become more available, employment-based programs requiring or incentivizing employee vaccination will become more commonplace. In a previous post, we covered recent employer guidance from the CDC, with a particular focus on mandatory workplace testing programs. This post examines how an employer might design a voluntary workplace vaccination program using incentives to encourage participation, and how to avoid potential pitfalls in doing so.

In concept, the FMLA is simple. In practice, however, administering FMLA leave, particularly on an intermittent basis can quickly become complicated, and many employers struggle trying to track and manage intermittent leaves. This post addresses some of the intermittent leave-related issues employers may face and offers best practices for ensuring compliance with the law.

The New York State’s Department of Labor recently issued new Quarantine Leave guidance for 2021 – guidance that is certainly controversial in that it seemingly goes beyond the statutory text of the NY COVID-19 Quarantine Leave Law to create expansive new employer mandates. We previously wrote about New York’s COVID-19 leave requirements here and here. While the new guidance seems ripe for legal challenge, it nonetheless reflects the new position of the NYSDOL. Employers should review this new guidance – keeping in mind its informal, non-binding nature – as the pandemic continues to affect leave decision-making.

The CDC has issued new guidance focused on ensuring employees’ informed consent for COVID-19 testing in the workplace. This builds on earlier guidance the CDC issued regarding workplace testing programs last fall. Because the CDC notes that employers should not conduct testing without an employee’s informed consent, employers should be prepared to answer employee questions and concerns by utilizing the recommend framework discussed below.

In this post we begin an in-depth examination of these provisions starting with the Consolidated Appropriations Act’s effect on flexible spending arrangements, which provides employers with an expanded set of options to allow mid-year election changes.

Watch this webinar in which Mintz’s Employment, Labor & Benefits and Health Law attorneys and noted immunologist Dr. Darryl Carter discussed key takeaways from the EEOC’s recently updated vaccination guidance and other COVID-19–related workplace questions.

Please join Mintz’s Employment, Labor & Benefits and Health Law attorneys and noted immunologist Dr. Darryl Carter for a webinar to discuss key takeaways from the EEOC’s recently updated vaccination guidance and other COVID-19–related workplace question.

Recently enacted H.R. 133, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (“the Act”), is a massive, 5,593-page piece of legislation that includes appropriations for the U.S. government for the upcoming fiscal year and funding for coronavirus emergency response and relief, among many other things.

Read the transcript of CompensationStandard.com’s November 2020 webcast titled, “Pay Equity: What Compensation Committees Need to Know” in which Anne L. Bruno was among the experts to discuss pay equity, shareholder expectations, disclosure trends, board oversight, and more.

Happy New Year! While many of us are thrilled to see 2020 in the rear view, 2021 ushers in a huge challenge for Massachusetts employers – the beginning of benefits and Job protections under the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave law (MAPFML).

The New York City Council has expanded NYC’s Fair Chance Act to further restrict NYC employers from taking adverse actions against applicants or employees based on their criminal history.  The law will go into effect on or about July 28, 2021.  We highlight the changes in the law and action items below.

The District of Columbia Council has passed the Ban On Non-Compete Agreements Amendment Act of 2020 (“the Act”). If it goes into effect (and we are monitoring closely whether it will), it will almost entirely ban non-compete agreements in D.C., prohibiting employers from restricting an employee’s employment by a competitor and giving D.C. the distinction of joining California, North Dakota, and Oklahoma, with one of the broadest statutory bans of non-compete agreements in the United States.

In a recently decided case, Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) does not preempt an Arkansas statute that regulates reimbursement levels paid by Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) to local pharmacies.

The new COVID-19 stimulus package is now law. As discussed herein, it provides some employers an incentive to extend COVID-19 related FFCRA leave benefits through Q1 2021.

The EEOC has updated its guidance regarding mandatory vaccination in the workplace and has outlined the permissible scope of a mandatory vaccination program. While the guidance has neither the force nor application of a statute or regulation, it provides a compelling structure for a legally compliant mandatory workplace vaccination program.

Mintz Member Jennifer B. Rubin authored an article published by Law360 that examined legal challenges employers face as they contemplate the impact of the coronavirus vaccine on the workforce, and how mandatory vaccination programs may create a workforce of immuno-haves, or those who have received the vaccination, and potentially expose employers to employment and consumer claims.

California employers are now subject to three new COVID-19 related reporting obligations when there is a COVID-19 positive employee or employees in their workplaces, including: reporting to their (1) workers’ compensation carrier, (2) employees and other workers, and (3) local public health authority. We address each obligation below.