We are excited to share the next installment of our video series, Conducting Workplace Investigations | Step #7: Interview the Accused. This series, 10 Steps Every Company Should Take When Conducting Workplace Investigations, is intended to guide HR leaders faced with investigating a complaint between coworkers, such as harassment or inappropriate conduct, through the investigation process.Continue Reading Conducting Workplace Investigations: Step #7 – Interview the Accused (VIDEO)
Conducting Workplace Investigations: Step #6 – Interview the Witness (VIDEO)
We are excited to share the next installment of our video series, Conducting Workplace Investigations | Step #6: Interview the Witness. This series, 10 Steps Every Company Should Take When Conducting Workplace Investigations, is intended to guide HR leaders faced with investigating a complaint between coworkers, such as harassment or inappropriate conduct, through the investigation process.Continue Reading Conducting Workplace Investigations: Step #6 – Interview the Witness (VIDEO)
Conducting Workplace Investigations: Step #5 – Interview Best Practices (VIDEO)
We are excited to share the next installment of our video series, Conducting Workplace Investigations | Step #5: Interview Best Practices. This series, 10 Steps Every Company Should Take When Conducting Workplace Investigations, is intended to guide HR leaders faced with investigating a complaint between coworkers, such as harassment or inappropriate conduct, through the investigation process.Continue Reading Conducting Workplace Investigations: Step #5 – Interview Best Practices (VIDEO)
EEOC Update: Employers Can Offer Vaccine Incentives to Workers
The EEOC has updated its guidance “What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws.” The new guidance clarifies that employers may offer incentives to employees to voluntarily provide documentation or other confirmation that they have received the COVID-19 vaccination from a third-party (i.e., doctor, pharmacy, health agency or other healthcare provider).
The EEOC has confirmed that requesting this documentation is not a disability-related inquiry covered by the ADA and is not an unlawful request for genetic information under GINA, but continues to caution employers to keep this vaccination information confidential pursuant to the ADA. However, the EEOC has distinguished incentives offered to employees for voluntarily receiving a vaccination administered by the employer or its agent. In that case, the EEOC cautions employers against offering incentives that are so substantial to become coercive, as “vaccinations require employees to answer pre-vaccination disability-related screen questions, [and] a very large incentive could make employees feel pressured to disclose protected medical information.”Continue Reading EEOC Update: Employers Can Offer Vaccine Incentives to Workers
EEOC Issues Updated Employer Guidance Concerning Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccinations
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has released updated guidance regarding employers’ and employees’ rights and obligations related to mandatory COVID-19 vaccination.
Mandatory Vaccinations are Permitted
On December 16, the EEOC released guidance confirming that employers may require employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19, subject to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (Title VII) prohibiting religious discrimination and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which prohibits discrimination based on disability.Continue Reading EEOC Issues Updated Employer Guidance Concerning Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccinations
Labor & Employment Law Update: Recent Developments for Employers
While managing the fallout from COVID-19 has dominated the focus of employers this year, there have been a number of recent employment law developments unrelated to the virus. During this virtual seminar Bass, Berry & Sims labor & employment attorneys will address legislative developments and agency guidance with respect to a number of these issues
Supreme Court Rules that Title VII Protects LGBTQ Employees
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision on Monday, June 15, in the case of Bostock v. Clayton County, ruling that the prohibitions against discrimination “because of sex” contained in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) extend to protect gay and transgender employees against workplace discrimination. Justice Neil Gorsuch delivered the opinion of the Court with Justices Alito and Kavanaugh each issuing dissenting opinions. In each of the three consolidated cases upon which this opinion was rendered, an employee had been terminated from employment for being gay or transgender.
The three employees brought suit in three different jurisdictions. In one case, the Eleventh Circuit ruled that Title VII’s protections did not prohibit employers from firing employees for being gay, and dismissed the lawsuit. In the other two cases, the Second Circuit and Sixth Circuit ruled that Title VII did provide the alleged protections and had permitted the cases involving those two employees to proceed. These inconsistent rulings, therefore, set the following question before the Court:
Is it legally permissible under Title VII’s language prohibiting discrimination “because of sex” for an employer to take an adverse action against an employee merely because the employee is gay or transgender? Continue Reading Supreme Court Rules that Title VII Protects LGBTQ Employees
EEOC Update: COVID-19 Guidance on Various Workplace Discrimination Issues
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its COVID-19 Technical Assistance Q&A on June 11, addressing an employer’s handling of pandemic-related harassment, pregnant employees, employees with family members at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19, and other workplace discrimination issues. Below is an overview of that guidance.
Continue Reading EEOC Update: COVID-19 Guidance on Various Workplace Discrimination Issues
Working in the Age of the Coronavirus
I recently explained how employers can legally respond when an employee tests positive for COVID-19 in an article for the Washington Business Journal. Many employers think the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) protects employee health information, but that pertains specifically to health providers.
For employers, the Americans with Disabilities Act, protects the privacy of a workers health records and information, so employers may ask employees if they’ve tested positive for the coronavirus, but must keep that information confidential in accordance with the ADA.
When it comes to taking an employee’s temperature, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission allows employers to get thermometer readings given the potential direct threat to others who could be exposed. I advised in the article to “treat this like a real medical test,” and go to a private room to take someone’s temperature and keep results completely confidential in that employee’s medical file.Continue Reading Working in the Age of the Coronavirus
COVID-19 in the Workplace: Employer FAQs
COVID-19 is spreading and testing, in many states, is increasing. As a result, increasing numbers of employers will be faced with the reality of an employee testing positive for COVID-19. When that happens, what’s an employer to do? Below are some FAQs about COVID-19 in the workplace.
An employee has tested positive. What can an employer do?
Send the employee home immediately. The employer may require a doctor’s note releasing the employee to return to work, although the CDC has asked employers to consider foregoing such documentation due to current healthcare constraints. If the employer chooses to forego the medical release to work, the CDC has provided that employees should not return to work until they are free of fever (without the use of fever-reducing medications) and any other COVID-19-related symptoms for at least 24 hours. The CDC has indicated that healthcare professionals diagnosed with COVID-19 may return to work after seven days have passed since symptoms first appeared AND after three days have passed since resolution of fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and improvement in respiratory symptoms.
The employer should consider a deep clean of the employee’s workplace, including common areas. The employer has the option to notify the diagnosed employee’s co-workers of the diagnosis, without releasing the employee’s name. A sample notice is below:Continue Reading COVID-19 in the Workplace: Employer FAQs