On February 8, 2021, Governor Jay Inslee signed SSB 5061, which expands Washington’s unemployment insurance benefits to high-risk individuals and members of their households, who voluntarily quit their jobs during a public health emergency such as the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. The Washington State Employment Security Department (ESD) can begin providing benefits to…
Read More…
The Santa Rosa City Council has voted to temporarily reinstate and amend its emergency supplemental paid sick leave (SPSL) ordinance related to COVID-19. Read our article on the City’s original ordinance (which expired on December 31, 2020) here. The new amended ordinance took effect on February 2, 2021, and is set to…
Read More…
Question: Some of our employees have expressed concern about the possibility of a mandatory vaccine policy. What could we do to incentivize our employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19? What legal issues should we worry about? Answer: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released a Vaccination Toolkit for…
Read More…
The Department of Homeland Security has again extended its temporary relaxation of the standards for physically inspecting a new worker’s employment eligibility documents when completing the Form I-9. This is the eighth extension of the relaxed standard, which will now expire on March 30, 2021. As we originally reported, Homeland Security…
Read More…
Oregon and Idaho have announced that if at least 14 days have passed since a person fully completes their COVID-19 immunization (both doses of the vaccine), they don’t have to quarantine after a close contact exposure to a positive or presumed case of COVID-19. They are, however, still required to monitor…
Read More…
Los Angeles County has passed an ordinance extending its COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave after its previous ordinance expired on December 31, 2020 (read our original article on the county’s ordinance here). The new ordinance is set to expire two weeks after the local emergency order expires. In addition to extending the…
Read More…
On January 8, 2021, Washington’s Departments of Labor & Industries (L&I) and Health (DOH) again extended and modified existing COVID-19 (coronavirus) safety rules for temporary worker housing (TWH) in the agriculture industry. As a reminder, the larger framework for agriculture COVID-19 safety compliance in Washington continues to be Proclamation 20-57.1, and the implementing requirements for worksites, which we reported…
Read More…
A number of California cities and counties have extended their COVID-19 (coronavirus) emergency paid sick ordinances, or are preparing to do so in the coming weeks. Below is a list of ordinances that have already been extended, or may be extended soon. Oakland (city): The City of Oakland has extended its…
Read More…
The portal for submitting EEO-1 Reports for the 2019 and 2020 calendar years won’t open until sometime in April 2021. Normally the portal opens each January, with a submission deadline of March 31. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) didn’t open the portal for the 2019 submission, due to the COVID-19…
Read More…
On January 8, 2021, Cal/OSHA significantly expanded the FAQs for California’s emergency temporary standard addressing COVID-19 workplace safety. As we previously reported, the standard took effect on November 30, 2020, and will remain in effect until October 2, 2021. Some of the key clarifications are: Enforcement: Until February 1, 2021, Cal/OSHA will cite…
Read More…