On Friday, January 7, 2022, the Louisiana Supreme Court unanimously upheld a COVID-19 vaccine mandate program that the state’s largest private healthcare system implemented for its employees. Hayes, et al. v. University Health Shreveport, 21-01601 (La. 1/7/22). In doing so, the Court reaffirmed the employment-at-will doctrine, and its decision will likely be cited in
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) announced on December 14, 2021, that employees who contract COVID-19 may be protected from discrimination under federal law. This supplements previously issued guidance addressing when people with “long COVID” may be deemed disabled under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”).
The EEOC’s new guidance clarifies that a person
In the wake of Hurricane Ida, many employers are struggling to find ways to maintain their business and protect their most precious asset: their employees. In this article, we review some of the most frequently asked labor and employment law questions facing employers in the aftermath of this catastrophic storm, including payroll issues, attendance issues,
The Louisiana legislature has passed new laws requiring employers to provide accommodations for certain pregnant employees and limiting an employer’s use of an applicant’s criminal history in hiring decisions. Both laws become effective on August 1, 2021.
Amendment to Pregnancy Accommodation Law
By Act No. 393 of the 2021 Regular Session, Louisiana’s nondiscrimination
In a nod to LGBTQ+ Pride Month and the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has released new resources “to educate employees, applicants and employers about the rights of all employees, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers, to be free from sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in employment.” The materials – none of which state new policy but instead rely on previously adopted positions – “are part of EEOC’s effort to ensure that the public can find accessible, plain language materials in a convenient location on EEOC’s website.”
Continue Reading EEOC Unveils New Online Resources in Observance of LGBTQ+ Pride Month
Continue Reading What Does Washington’s Pro-Union Push Mean for You?
Why Do We Need to Talk About Bystander Training?
Many companies train employees on sexual harassment, but studies have shown that much of this training is ineffective and does not empower companies and employees to prevent harassment.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace issued a report in 2016 finding that some sexual harassment training even caused men to be more likely to blame both the harasser and the victim involved in a sexual harassment scenario. The EEOC’s study goes on to say that training often focused too much on legal standards and simply avoiding legal liability.
Continue Reading Bystander Training: The Best Defense Against Sexual Harassment
Last week we reviewed five of the most common, and problematic, labor and employment law issues in bankruptcy. You can read last week’s article here. Below are five additional labor and employment law concerns in bankruptcy that companies must know and assess when they are undergoing bankruptcy.
6. Back Wages
Companies must obviously pay
The next phase in the ever evolving COVID-19 and coronavirus crisis are the upcoming bankruptcies. This year was already shaping up to be an interesting year, but the coronavirus rapidly accelerated bankruptcy declarations. One article estimates that approximately 100,000 businesses have permanently closed and another article states that more than 57 million people have filed
On January 25, 2021, the United States Supreme Court dismissed, as “improvidently granted,” a writ of certiorari it had previously granted on a petition asking it to consider “[w]hether a provision in an arbitration agreement that exempts certain claims from arbitration negates an otherwise clear and unmistakable delegation of questions of arbitrability to an arbitrator.”