Category: COVID-19

COVID-19, Labor & Employment

OSHA Issues, and Fifth Circuit Stays, Emergency Temporary Standard for COVID-19 Vaccination of Private Sector Employees

Written by Gary McLaughlin and Eric Engelman On November 4, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) issued its long-awaited COVID-19 vaccination rule for private employers. The OSHA COVID-19 vaccination and testing emergency temporary standard (“ETS”) applies to all employers with 100 or more employees, and requires that employees be fully vaccinated for COVID-19, or comply with testing and face covering requirements.  The ETS … Continue reading OSHA Issues, and Fifth Circuit Stays, Emergency Temporary Standard for COVID-19 Vaccination of Private Sector Employees

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COVID-19, Labor & Employment

EEOC Issues New COVID-19 Guidance on Religious Objections to Vaccine Mandates

Written by Jeremy Mittman An increase in workplace mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies has yielded an increase in employees’ requests for special exemptions. This week, the EEOC issued updated guidance on how employers should handle religious objections to COVID-19 vaccine mandates. The guidance explains how Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on religion, applies. Under Title VII, employers are required … Continue reading EEOC Issues New COVID-19 Guidance on Religious Objections to Vaccine Mandates

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COVID-19, Immigration, Labor & Employment

White House Announces New COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Requirements for Air Travelers to US

Written by David S. Rugendorf Yesterday, October 25, 2021, the White House issued its long-awaited vaccination and testing requirements for noncitizen/nonpermanent resident air travelers to the United States. The new requirements, which will take effect at 12:01 a.m. on November 8, 2021, replace the previous travel restrictions – no longer will travelers physically present in certain specified geographic regions (China, UK, Ireland, Europe (Schengen countries), … Continue reading White House Announces New COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Requirements for Air Travelers to US

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COVID-19, Labor & Employment

FDA Fully Approves Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine, Removing Potential Hurdle to Mandatory Vaccination Policies

Written by Jeremy Mittman Employers can breathe a bit easier when considering whether or not to adopt a mandatory vaccination policy to apply to their workforces. On August 23, 2021, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine full approval, elevating it from its previous Emergency Use Authorization (“EUA”) status. As most know by now, the Pfizer vaccine is the first of … Continue reading FDA Fully Approves Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine, Removing Potential Hurdle to Mandatory Vaccination Policies

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COVID-19, Labor & Employment

Cal-OSHA Standards Board Adopts Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS) Revisions, Governor Newsom Issues Immediately Effective Executive Order

Written by Jeremy Mittman & Thea Rogers Last Friday, June 17, Governor Newsom signed the Cal-OSHA Safety and Health Standards Board’s revisions to its Emergency Temporary Standards (“ETS”) into immediate effect (Executive Order linked here), thereby more closely aligning Cal-OSHA COVID-19 face covering and physical distancing standards with the California Department of Public Health (“CDPH”) and Centers for Disease Control (“CDC”) recommendations.  Although Governor Newsom … Continue reading Cal-OSHA Standards Board Adopts Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS) Revisions, Governor Newsom Issues Immediately Effective Executive Order

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COVID-19, Labor & Employment

Houston, We Have a Policy: Texas Court Upholds Employer’s COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

Written by Jeremy Mittman and Stephen Franz As a handful of employees across the country have filed lawsuits challenging workplace COVID-19 vaccination mandates, many employers have been left to grapple with whether they can implement a mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy as a condition of employment.  At least according to one Texas federal district court, the answer is yes.   Judge Hughes of the United States … Continue reading Houston, We Have a Policy: Texas Court Upholds Employer’s COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

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COVID-19

California Reopens – What Does That Mean?

Written by Susan Kohn Ross California has officially reopened today – June 15th. Nonetheless, there are some restrictions which remain in place. On June 14th, California posted guidance for various industries, see here. When it comes to office operations, those restrictions remain unchanged as the existing Cal-OSHA recommendations are not yet updated.   At the same time, Cal-OSHA has posted a new guidance – see here … Continue reading California Reopens – What Does That Mean?

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COVID-19, Labor & Employment

California Mask Requirement for Workplaces To Continue Through Summer (And More!), CAL-OSHA Says

Written by Jeremy Mittman and Thea Rogers [UPDATE]:  As we reported below, Cal-OSHA’s Standards Board recently proposed a series of controversial amendments to CAL-OSHA’s COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standards, which included face covering and social distancing requirements that many critics considered unnecessarily onerous in light of recent California Department of Public Health and CDC guidance.  Yesterday, the Board withdrew these proposed amendments.  While it is unconfirmed … Continue reading California Mask Requirement for Workplaces To Continue Through Summer (And More!), CAL-OSHA Says

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COVID-19, Labor & Employment

Employers Begin to Grapple with the Risks of Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Policies

Written by Jeremy Mittman and Shanda Lowe As expected, the first batch of lawsuits challenging COVID-19 vaccine mandates are popping up across the country—a possibility that we noted in an earlier post on this subject. So far, at least two federal lawsuits have been filed based on the fact that the COVID-19 vaccines currently in use are only available under an Emergency Use Authorization (“EUA”) … Continue reading Employers Begin to Grapple with the Risks of Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Policies

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