Late Tuesday afternoon, March 24, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued guidance in the form of 14 questions and answers on the new COVID-19 leave act.   Here is the link to the latest guidance. Some of the highlights are described below.

Although practitioners and commentators uniformly agreed that the act

On Wednesday, March 18, 2020, the EEOC released updated guidance titled “What You Should Know About the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and COVID-19.” The release may be accessed here: https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/wysk/wysk_ada_rehabilitaion_act_coronavirus.cfm.

Along with some specific new guidance, the EEOC references its 2009 publication titled “Pandemic Preparedness in the Workplace and the Americans with Disabilities Act”

On Wednesday, March 18, 2020, by a vote of 90 to 8, the U.S. Senate passed H.R. 6201 – the coronavirus paid leave bill.  The bill had bipartisan support and the support of both the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the President.  President Trump signed the bill into law shortly after passage.

The House originally

Employees who experience a “COBRA-qualifying event” and would otherwise lose group health coverage are entitled to elect to continue their group health coverage under federal law – COBRA.  For those employers not covered by COBRA (who have fewer than 20 employees), Louisiana has a group health insurance continuation statute that also allows employees to continue

After midnight on March 14, 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 6201, a 110 page, bipartisan coronavirus response bill.  The House approved the bill on a 363-40 vote and has President Trump’s support.  Included in the bill are comprehensive mandated paid leave provisions related to the coronavirus outbreak.  The Senate is expected to

Responses to the coronavirus that directly impact employers are making their way through Congress.  CBS and other news outlets are reporting on Congressional leaders’ negotiations regarding various measures that will directly impact employers.  These measures include paid emergency sick leave and disaster unemployment assistance.  See the attached link from CBS News regarding the Congressional response

“OK Boomer” is a common catchphrase, often used in the context of a younger person being dismissive of an older person. The person on the receiving end of the quip may not be a “Boomer” per se (i.e., a member Baby Boomer generation), and should the recipient of the quip point that fact

As reported by national and local media outlets, two Gretna, Louisiana, police officers were fired for social media activity that targeted Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  In the case of one of the officers, he posted a message on his personal Facebook page regarding the Congresswoman that allegedly included threatening remarks directed toward her.  The second officer

As was previously reported, in March, a Federal District Judge in Washington D.C. lifted a stay on the EEOC’s collection of pay data (known as “Component 2” data) from employers with EEO-1 reporting obligations.  The EEOC has now spoken regarding its collection of Component 2 data and stated that covered employers will be required

Most private employers with 100 or more employees are required to submit an annual EEO-1 report to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regarding the number of workers employed in different categories, broken down by race, sex, and ethnicity.  The Obama administration proposed adding pay data to the required report, as a means of quantifying pay