Question: One of our employees requested a disability accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). He suffers from anxiety and depression and his doctor recommended that he not have any interactions with a certain “hostile” coworker. Do we have to do this? Answer: Probably not, because courts generally don’t consider a request to avoid…
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On July 12, 2022, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its technical assistance guidance regarding COVID-19 (coronavirus) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). These FAQs scale back the agency’s approval of mandatory COVID-19 screening measures and clarify several other COVID-19 related issues. Viral screening tests and “business necessity”: The EEOC now says…
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Question: Our company is struggling to find workers and keep operations running efficiently. All employment offers are conditioned on passing a preemployment drug screen and background check. We’ve been allowing new hires to start working before we receive the results from our third-party vendors. We just learned that an employee who has…
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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…
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The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) order that required everyone to wear masks in indoor public settings regardless of whether they were vaccinated against COVID-19 (coronavirus) expired on February 15, 2022, but the order still requires unvaccinated people to wear masks indoors. As we previously reported, the CDPH originally set…
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On January 27, 2022, Governor Jay Inslee signed Substitute House Bill 1732, delaying the implementation of Washington state’s long-term care premium tax from January 1, 2022, until July 1, 2023. As we previously reported, mounting opposition to the program caused Governor Inslee to announce a delay in late December 2021. However, in a…
Read More…On January 5, 2022, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) extended its order requiring everyone to wear masks in indoor public settings regardless of whether they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19 (coronavirus). The original statewide order was set to end on January 15, 2022, but will now stay in effect through…
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The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has announced that employers with federal supply or service contracts/subcontracts will be required to annually certify that they have developed written affirmative action plans (AAPs), with an initial deadline of June 30, 2022. The certification requirements apply to employers who are already…
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Question: I read your Alert, announcing a hold on federal OSHA’s COVID-19 (coronavirus) emergency temporary standard (ETS) for employers with 100 or more employees until a federal court hearing occurs. Does that mean we can stop preparing for the rule (which requires vaccination or weekly tests), or is there something we…
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November 4, 2021 OSHA announced its long-awaited COVID-19 emergency temporary standard (ETS), directing employers with 100 or more employees to require their employees to be vaccinated or else submit to weekly testing. The official rule will be effective immediately upon its publication on November 5, 2021, but covered employers will…
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