On August 11, 2023, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) published proposed regulations in the Federal Register for implementing the PWFA. The EEOC has invited the public to comment on the proposed regulations during a comment period that will close on October 10, 2023. While the regulations are proposed, PWFA has been in full effect since June 27, 2023.Continue Reading EEOC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to Implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA)

The Illinois general assembly kicked off 2023 off by passing the Paid Leave for All Workers Act (the “Act”). Governor Pritzker is expected to sign the bill later this year. Once signed, the Act will go into effect on January 1, 2024, and will make most Illinois private-sector employees eligible for up to 40 hours of paid time off per year.Continue Reading Illinois Mandates “Any Purpose” Paid Leave for Most Employees Starting in 2024

Where previous protections offered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 fell short, employees were left to make hard choices between quitting their jobs or working in a position that did not fully accommodate their medical needs while pregnant or after giving birth.  Although some state laws fill those needs, many states do not provide any protection. During 2022, two important protections were signed into law by President Joe Biden: the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, and the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act. The new protections put in place by these acts ensure that pregnant employees will not suffer because of their pregnancy, but instead be provided the proper and necessary time off and accommodations after giving birth.Continue Reading New Federal Protections for Pregnant Workers

On June 9, 2022, the Austin City Council unanimously voted to pass what is known as a CROWN Act, a law prohibiting discrimination based on a person’s hair texture or hairstyle. CROWN stands for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.” Consequently, the Austin City Code will be revised to prohibit discrimination based on protective hairstyle in housing, public accommodations, and employment. Protective hairstyles are those necessitated by, or resulting from, the characteristics of a hair texture or hairstyle commonly associated with race, national origin, ethnicity, or culture, and include but are not limited to afros, Bantu knots, braids, cornrows, curls, locs, twists, or hair that is tightly coiled or tightly curled.
Continue Reading Austin City Council Passes First CROWN Act Applicable to Private Employers in Texas

Religious Exemptions to Mandatory Vaccine Policy

Employees who refuse to take the COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons are protected by Title VII. Therefore, religious accommodations for the COVID-19 vaccine should be treated like any other religion-based accommodation request. Employers should continue to provide employees with a clear and accessible process for requesting an accommodation and should continue to analyze requested accommodations on a case-by-case basis and offer accommodations when required pursuant to the law and its policies. Importantly, employees requesting such an accommodation need not use any specific phrase, or “magical words,” in order to trigger an employer’s obligations. Employers should keep in mind that all sincerely held religious beliefs may give rise to an accommodation obligation, not only “mainstream” or commonly-known religions.
Continue Reading Granting Religious Accommodations for COVID-19: What Employers Need to Know

Nearly two months after President Biden unveiled his COVID-19 Action Plan, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) that requires all employers with at least 100 employees to establish, implement, and enforce a written policy mandating that each employee either be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly COVID-19 testing and wear face coverings indoors. OSHA clarifies that the ETS is meant to strongly encourage employers to stipulate that its employees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, but includes a narrow testing and face covering exception—at least for now.

Continue Reading OSHA Releases Highly Anticipated Vaccine Mandate ETS

The California state rules, which became effective June 15, 2021 (California’s “reopening”), eliminate capacity restrictions and social distancing and also permit fully vaccinated individuals to stop wearing masks in most situations.
Continue Reading California Return to Work: Finally, New Revisions to the COVID-19 Prevention Emergency Temporary Standards

Is Wi-Fi sickness a disability? The California Court of Appeal just said it is in Brown v. Los Angeles Unified School District (2d Dist., Div. Eight), Case No. B294240. In a case that tests the limits of California’s liberal pleading standard, the appellate court green-lighted a claim of a woman who asserted a disability of “electromagnetic hypersensitivity,” or, as the concurring justice put it, “Wi-Fi sickness.”
Continue Reading Is Wi-Fi Sickness a Disability? California Appellate Court Holds That It Is Under FEHA

The emergence of COVID-19 has changed the workplace as we once knew it. California employers need to be prepared for unprecedented compliance challenges in recent legislation related to the ongoing pandemic, expanding leave protections, wage and hour compliance risks, and much more. Employers will need to review and adapt their policies and procedures in order to keep up in the coming year with California’s ever-changing employment laws.
Continue Reading California Employment Law Alert: New Employment Laws Effective On or Before January 1, 2021

As Election Day quickly approaches in the highly anticipated presidential and congressional elections, employers are faced with a slew of questions about their employees’ rights on November 3 and beyond.

Election Day is not a national holiday; therefore, federal law does not mandate employers provide employees with time off to vote. Employers must assess their obligations under state law as to whether their employees can leave work to vote and, if so, whether they must pay employees for time spent at the polls. More than half of states require employers to provide employees time off from work to vote. Of those states, the law varies as to how much time is allotted and whether that time is paid or unpaid. Some states’ laws are subject to further caveats, for example, proof a ballot was cast. Employers should also ensure their handbook’s time-off provisions are consistent with their state’s voting rights. For example, in Texas, an employee has the right to take paid time off to vote on Election Day. If, however, the employee has at least two consecutive hours off of work while the polls are open, the employer need not allow the employee to leave in the middle of his or her shift.
Continue Reading Election Day Obligations: What Employers Need to Know