Bass, Berry & Sims has provided updated guidance on the employment-related provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and answers to some frequently asked questions regarding the FFCRA regarding providing Emergency Paid Sick Leave (EPSL) and Emergency Family and Medical Leave Act (EFMLA) benefits under the Act. This guidance includes answers to some
DOL Issues Notice Poster and Answers to FFCRA Frequently Asked Questions Clarifying 500-Employee Threshold
Please note that the content below was posted on March 26, 2020. We have since provided updated guidance on the topics discussed in this post here.
The Department of Labor has issued a Notice Poster outlining employees’ rights under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act’s (FFCRA). This poster must be displayed in a conspicuous place in a location visible to employees and is available for download on the DOL website. Additional facts regarding posting requirements can be found here.
Both the FFCRA’s leave provisions (Paid Sick Leave and Emergency FMLA) apply to private employers with fewer than 500 employees. The Department of Labor has issued a Questions and Answers resource addressing one of the FFCRA’s most lingering questions – which employees are counted for purposes of the 500 or less employee threshold?Continue Reading DOL Issues Notice Poster and Answers to FFCRA Frequently Asked Questions Clarifying 500-Employee Threshold
Nashville Mayor John Cooper Announces Safer at Home Order
On Sunday, March 22, Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced the “Safer at Home Order,” issued by the Medical Director pursuant to the Metro Public Health Department’s declaration of a Health Emergency. This order closes non-essential businesses and encourages residents throughout Davidson County (Tennessee) to stay home when possible and avoid gathering in groups of more than 10 people for non-essential purposes. The Order does not restrict or limit any employer’s right to ask employees to work from home.
Until further notice, all businesses not performing essential services have been ordered closed for 14 days beginning at 12:01 a.m. Monday, March 23.Continue Reading Nashville Mayor John Cooper Announces Safer at Home Order
How Can Companies Talk to Baby Boomer Employees About Retirement?
I recently provided insight for an article outlining how companies should discuss retirement plans with their older employees. I explained that an annual review period would be an appropriate time to discuss an employee’s upcoming plans for retirement and any need for success planning.
“Employers should pose questions to employees about retirement plans with the sole goal of understanding staffing needs for future workforce planning,” I explained. “This discussion should be general in nature, should not make reference to the employee’s age or ‘generational’ comments, and should promptly end if the employee indicates that retirement is not a consideration at that point.”Continue Reading How Can Companies Talk to Baby Boomer Employees About Retirement?
HR Professionals: Don’t Miss Our Labor & Employment Law Seminar – November 16
Labor & employment attorneys Lymari Cromwell and Mary Leigh Pirtle will discuss the following topics:
- FMLA/ADA: A practical, scenario-based discussion regarding extended leaves of absence and how they are regulated by application of the FMLA and the ADA, including a detailed discussion of the EEOC’s position with respect to extended leave as a reasonable accommodation.
DOL Withdraws Obama-era Letters on Joint Employer and Classification Guidance
The unwinding continues. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced the withdrawal of the Obama administration’s previously issued informal guidance on independent contractors and joint employers.
In a very brief statement, the DOL announced that it was withdrawing a 2016 interpretation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) which expanded the joint employer standard from one requiring a business to have direct control over an employee to a more broad and ambiguous standard of indirect control.Continue Reading DOL Withdraws Obama-era Letters on Joint Employer and Classification Guidance
UPDATE: President Obama Poised to Sign Executive Order Barring Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation
On June 18, 2014, we reported that President Obama would sign an Executive Order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. As promised, on July 21, Obama issued the Executive Order. This presidential action amended existing Executive Order 11,246, which applies to federal contractors, by adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of classes protected from employment discrimination. This move also amended existing Executive Order 11,478 by explicitly prohibiting gender identity discrimination by federal government agencies for the first time.
Continue Reading UPDATE: President Obama Poised to Sign Executive Order Barring Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation
DOL Publishes Rule to Raise Minimum Wage to $10.10 on Federal Contractors
The White House and the Department of Labor (DOL) released a proposed rule that would raise the minimum wage for employees under federal contracts from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour, a 39% increase. The proposed rule implements Executive Order 13658, Establishing a Minimum Wage for Contractors, which was signed by President Obama on February 12, 2014. That order applies to new and renegotiated contracts starting January 1, 2015.
Continue Reading DOL Publishes Rule to Raise Minimum Wage to $10.10 on Federal Contractors
President Obama Poised to Sign Executive Order Barring Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation
The White House has announced that President Obama will sign an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against individuals on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, a move the White House hopes will pressure Congress into passing legislation banning employment discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. The Senate
Rigid Application of Light-Duty Policy May Discriminate Against Pregnant Employees
A federal court recently ruled that an employer’s rigid application of its light-duty policy could be used as evidence of pregnancy discrimination. The employer had a policy of providing light-duty jobs only to employees with on-the-job injuries, which the Court here, and the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) in general, have blessed as not showing disability bias against those with impairments caused off-the-job. Here, however, a pregnant certified nursing assistant who had a temporary lifting restriction was denied a light-duty job. Since her job required lifting in assisting nursing home residents, the employer considered her to have “resigned” when the employee gave notice of the doctor’s restrictions. The employee sued.
Continue Reading Rigid Application of Light-Duty Policy May Discriminate Against Pregnant Employees