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”

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

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

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

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

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division continues to burn the midnight oil providing much needed guidance to employers and employees regarding leave issues under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.  Overnight, Saturday, the DOL posted a third set of Q&As (Q&As 38-59) that address a number of recurring employer questions.

“Son or

Overnight, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division posted additional answers to pressing questions regarding leave issues under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.  These Q&As address a number of recurring employer questions.

Documentation.  One of the topics addressed by the DOL includes required documentation to support the need for leave (which the

Yesterday afternoon, on March 25, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued its model notices that meet the requirements of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”).  The DOL provided a model notice for private sector employees and for public employees.   All employers covered by the paid sick leave and

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”