Question of the Month
Q&A: Eliminating contact with a coworker unreasonable under ADA
Read Our AnswerQ&A: Eliminating contact with a coworker unreasonable under ADA
Read Our AnswerA Montana employer’s clear hiring criteria and good documentation showing why it chose not to hire a former employee allowed it to overcome a discrimination and retaliation claim in federal court. A former employee with human resources experience applied for three part-time package handler positions with United Parcel Service (UPS). UPS…
Read More…If you reimburse employees for business mileage, be aware that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced a mid-year increase of four cents, resulting in a standard mileage rate of 62.5 cents per mile, effective July 1, 2022. The standard rate from January 1, 2022, through June 30, 2022, is 58.5…
Read More…On June 1, 2022, emergency regulations for outdoor heat exposure and wildfire smoke were released. This Alert summarizes both sets of regulations, which take effect on June 15, 2022. WASHINGTON: L&I issues emergency rules for outdoor heat Washington’s Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) has released emergency requirements to protect workers from outdoor heat…
Read More…On May 20, 2022, Washington’s Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) and Department of Health (DOH) made yet another update to the emergency COVID-19 (coronavirus) safety rules for temporary worker housing (TWH) in the agriculture industry. The rules took effect immediately. Here are the important changes: Education on exposure and testing positive: The previous version of the rules required…
Read More…On June 1, 2022, Washington’s Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) issued emergency regulations requiring employers to protect workers from wildfire smoke. The rules are effective June 15, 2022, through September 29, 2022. Vigilant will publish an Alert on the Washington emergency wildfire smoke rules in the next few days and update…
Read More…On June 1, 2022, Washington’s Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) released emergency rules for outdoor heat exposure. The emergency rules will be effective starting on June 15, 2022, until September 29, 2022. The rules temporarily expand Washington’s permanent outdoor heat exposure rules, which are in effect annually from May 1 through…
Read More…Many business leaders we’ve recently spoken with have expressed frustration with the Washington workers’ compensation system. The sources of this frustration most often come down to an inability to understand and control this key and costly area of their business, difficulty working with the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I), and a lack of…
Read More…The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) doesn’t require an employee to have long-term medical issues in order to establish a disability. The employee in this case was a newly hired HR generalist who was approved for an eight-week leave of…
Read More…Oregon OSHA recently adopted permanent heat illness prevention rules, which apply to all workplaces (general industry and agriculture), as well as employer-provided housing, effective on June 15, 2022. In 2021, Oregon OSHA created temporary heat illness rules (as we reported in an Alert last year), but they expired. When the…
Read More…On May 10, 2022, Oregon OSHA adopted permanent regulations to address workers’ exposure to wildfire smoke. The rules go into effect July 1, 2022, and apply to all outdoor workers who are exposed to wildfire smoke where the ambient air concentration for fine particulate matter equals or exceeds an Air Quality…
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