If enacted into law, President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better (BBB) reconciliation package will drastically expand the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) remedial powers effective January 1, 2022. The BBB measure...
Employment Law Letter
Q We need someone to work as an assistant between five and eight hours each week. Can we hire someone as an independent contractor, or does the person have to be classified as an employee? A In Idaho, a worker’s status...
Dec 31, 2021 · Employment Law Letter
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Q Is there any law requiring an employers' group health plan to extend coverage to an employee's covered child's child (the employee’s grandchild)? A Under current law, businesses that employ 50 or more employees are...
Dec 31, 2021 · Employment Law Letter
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Q How should we deal with an employee (already on a performance improvement plan (PIP)) whose divisive and mean-spirited e-mails are negatively affecting both coworkers and our external partners? Can we require manager...
Dec 31, 2021 · Employment Law Letter
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Some 450 members of United Steelworkers Local 40 went on strike on October 1, 2021, when the union failed to reach a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with management at Special Metals, a plant based in Huntington...
Dec 31, 2021 · Employment Law Letter
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Arkansas employers are understandably confused about where they stand on requiring employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19. The situation is very fluid and confused at the moment with (1) federal contractors being told...
Dec 31, 2021 · Employment Law Letter
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We recently provided an update on COVID-19 vaccine requirements in Arkansas (see “Where Arkansas stands on COVID-19 vaccination mandates”). One source of the new rules is the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services...
Dec 31, 2021 · Employment Law Letter
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Federal contractors (and subcontractors) will have four extra weeks—until January 4, 2022—to vaccinate their workforce against COVID-19, according to the White House. The extension was announced at the same time the...
Dec 31, 2021 · Employment Law Letter
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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has settled a lawsuit filed against it by H-4 and L-2 visa holders. The H-4 is a temporary, nonimmigrant visa category for the spouses and unmarried children under 21 years...
Dec 31, 2021 · Employment Law Letter
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The employee retention credit (ERC) is a fully refundable tax credit against payroll taxes originally enacted as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Its purpose was to encourage...
Dec 31, 2021 · Employment Law Letter
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The North Dakota Legislature has passed, and Governor Doug Burgum reportedly signed into law, House Bill (HB) 1511 related to COVID-19 vaccine mandates and documentation with a number of implications affecting employers...
Dec 31, 2021 · Employment Law Letter
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A transgender person’s access to the bathroom associated with their new identity has become a hot-button issue in society at large. It was therefore no surprise that an Illinois court was asked to weigh in on the issue...
Dec 31, 2021 · Employment Law Letter
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On November 10, 2021, the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) general counsel (GC) published operations management memo 22-03 about the duty to bargain over issues related to the Occupational Safety and Health...
Dec 31, 2021 · Employment Law Letter
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The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals (whose rulings apply to all Ohio employers) barred two former employees from using stolen trade secrets for their new business but vacated the lower court’s judgment enforcing a...
Dec 31, 2021 · Employment Law Letter
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In 2014, approximately 14% to 20% of the U.S. workforce consisted of independent contractors known as “gig workers.” In 2020, the number increased to approximately 35%. Some sources estimate that by 2023, nearly half the...
Dec 31, 2021 · Employment Law Letter
· Great Lakes
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