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- The Fifth Circuit Announces New Standard For Collective Action Certification On January 12, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vastly changed the landscape for collective action wage and hour claims under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. In Swales v. KLLM Transport Services, L.L.C., the Fifth Circuit rejected the lenient standard typically employed by federal district courts for "conditionally certifying" collective... Continue Reading...
- Congress Provides More Time To Use FFCRA Paid Leave (at the Employer's Option) On Monday, December 21, 2020, Congress passed another stimulus package to provide certain coronavirus relief for individuals and businesses, among other things. One looming question was whether Congress would extend the emergency paid sick leave (EPSL) and emergency paid family leave (EFMLA) provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) into next year? The... Continue Reading...
- Employers Beware: More Employees May Have to Self-Quarantine After Exposure to Confirmed COVID-19 Individuals On Wednesday, October 21, 2020, the CDC issued an expanded definition of who is considered a "close contact" for purposes of determining who should self-quarantine for 14-days following an exposure to a COVID-19 confirmed individual. Previously, the CDC defined "close contact" as someone who was within six feet of a confirmed COVID-19 positive individual for... Continue Reading...
- Supreme Court Rules Civil Rights Act Protects Gay and Transgender Employees From Workplace Discrimination On June 15, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a landmark decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, holding that an employer who fires an individual based on the individual's sexual orientation or gender identity violates the express terms of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), which... Continue Reading...
- New Phasing Plan Requirements from Louisiana State Fire Marshal For clients having operations in Louisiana which were affected by the recent Louisiana stay-at-home order (which expired May 14, 2020), the State Fire Marshal has released new phasing plan requirements as Louisiana moves into Phase 1 of reopening. The link can be found here. Guidance is broken down as follows: Outdoors sports Business/Organizations Fitness centers/health... Continue Reading...
- Workers' Compensation and COVID-19 The Louisiana Legislature is currently considering proposed legislation which would provide workers' compensation coverage for essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] The proposed law states that every essential worker who is disabled because of the contraction of the COVID-19 disease is entitled to the same compensation as if that essential worker had received personal injury... Continue Reading...
- Return to Work, Are You Ready? Last week, President Trump unveiled his Guidelines for Opening Up America Again. The Guidelines present a three-phase, criteria-based, framework to allow individuals and employers to return to normal activities. The return-to-work envisioned by the White House calls for the easing of current restrictions, not the wholesale abandonment of those restrictions. The guidelines are not statutes... Continue Reading...
- New CDC Guidance About Essential Employees Exposed to COVID-19 On April 8, 2020, the CDC announced new guidance for how to handle essential workers who have been exposed to someone with COVID-19. To ensure continuity of operations, the CDC says the employer no longer needs to send the exposed employee home to self-quarantine for 14 days assuming the employee remains asymptomatic and does not... Continue Reading...
- Eligible Self-Employed Individuals under the CARES Act In addition to certain entities, independent contractors, sole proprietors and "eligible self-employed individuals" may be eligible to apply for a Paycheck Protection Program loan under the CARES Act. What is an eligible self-employed individual? It is important to note that the statute did not refer to "self-employed individuals" which would have been very easy for... Continue Reading...
- DOL Rolls Out Leave Act Regulations and Changes Course on Some Issues On April 1, the paid leave requirements of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act took effect. Prior to April 1, the DOL issued both a required employer notice and a series of questions and answers related to the required employer notice under the Act: https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/WHD/posters/FFCRA_Poster_WH1422_Non-Federal.pdf and https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pandemic/ffcra-poster-questions. The IRS also issued a series of FAQs... Continue Reading...
