Labor & Employment Law Update

As a part of Missouri’s new Victims Economic Safety and Security Act (VESSA), employers in the state with at least 20 employees must now provide unpaid leave to employees who are victims of domestic or sexual violence, or who have family or household members who are victims of the same.  Effective August 28, 2021, all covered employers are required to notify employees of their right to unpaid leave under the law by or before October 27, 2021.  The Missouri Department of Labor has published a poster which, if prominently posted, will meet this requirement. 

The new mandate is ...

Last week, the EEOC filed a federal lawsuit in Georgia against an employer that did not allow an employee with a medical condition to work from home.  Employers should carefully consider the circumstances at issue in this lawsuit when evaluating work-from-home accommodation requests as we anticipate litigation of this sort will arise more frequently in the coming months.

The employee at issue (“Moncrief”) worked as a Health Safety & Environmental Quality Manager at a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility.  She has a number of physical impairments, including chronic ...

On August 23^rd Governor Pritzker issued Executive Order 2021-20 requiring  health care workers, school personnel, higher education personnel and students, and state-employees and contractors who work at state-owned or operated congregate facilities to get their first dose of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine series, or a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, within 10 days and be fully vaccinated within 30 days, subject to applicable medical and religious exemptions under federal and state law.

On September 9, 2021 President Biden announced sweeping new vaccine mandates for federal employees, federal contractors, and an upcoming OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard Rule for companies with more than 100 employees.

The recent announcement that Delta Airlines will begin imposing a $200 per month health insurance surcharge on unvaccinated employees has prompted many employers to consider whether a similar surcharge may be an alternative to mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for employees.

Now that the Delta variant is surging, employers are venturing into the arena of mandating that their employees take the COVID-19 vaccine. But deciding to mandate vaccination and actually implementing such a requirement is no easy feat.

Wisconsin employers discounting the possibility of organizing campaigns and unionization in their workplace.

On August 13, 2021, the Illinois Second District Appellate Court upheld the Illinois Human Rights Commission’s determination that Hobby Lobby violated the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA) by refusing to allow a transgender employee to use the restroom that matched her gender identity and awarded $220,000 in emotional distress damages against Hobby Lobby.

The Fight for Restroom Rights – Illinois Courts Follow National Trend in Prohibiting Sex Discrimination of Transgender Employees and Requiring Equal Access to Bathrooms

President Biden announced recently that those suffering “Post-Acute Sequelae of Sars-Cov-2 Infection,” aka long haul COVID-19, may qualify for protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

Our understanding of the aftereffects of COVID-19 continue to evolve. The CDC currently lists the most common post-COVID symptoms on their website. These symptoms include: