The Beltway Buzz is a weekly update summarizing labor and employment news from inside the Beltway and clarifying how what’s happening in Washington, D.C. could impact your business.
Archives for August 12, 2022
Respond Compassionately to People with Psychological Disabilities
Peter Petesch talks about accommodations for employees with psychological disabilities and some traps employers can fall into while trying to accommodate impaired individuals.
SHRM Online
View (Subscription required.)
Monkeypox threat warrants provider review of workplace policies, legal experts warn
Alka Ramchandani-Raj talks about steps employers at healthcare facilities can take to protect themselves and their facilities from monkeypox outbreaks, including reviewing safety protocols.
McKnights Senior Living
Littler Continues Run on Lateral Market with Kaiser Permanente Attorney in San Francisco
Melissa Cee and Erin Webber discuss hiring the sixth shareholder at Littler – Noah Garber – since July as part of Littler’s new talent strategy that the firm began developing last year.
The Recorder
View (Subscription required.)
Alert on unfair dismissals without cause and compensation during medical leave
Jesús Lahera Forteza discusses the LIND, a new law in Spain for equal treatment and non-discrimination, and the implications for dismissals during medical leaves of absence.
Observatorio De RRHH
Military Leave and USERRA Reemployment Rights: 3 Steps for Reading Orders to Determine Five-Year Cap Exemptions
Employers may be surprised to learn that certain employees with greater than five years of military leave may still have reemployment rights under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA). USERRA has numerous exemptions to the statute’s five-year service limit, and employers may need to consult
Workplace Safety in Arizona: OSHA Delays Decision on Proposal to Revoke State Plan
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is holding off on deciding whether to revoke final approval of Arizona’s occupational safety and health (OSH) plan. On August 10, 2022, OSHA said it is extending the comment period on a proposed rule to revoke the state’s approval for another 60
CDC Updates Quarantine, Isolation, and Close Contact Guidance: Is It the End of Quarantine for Asymptomatic Close Contacts?
On August 11, 2022, the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its guidance in light of the “high levels of vaccine- and infection-induced immunity and the availability of effective treatments and prevention tools.”
Portland, Maine Voters to Decide on Raising Minimum Wage, Eliminating Tip Credit, and Classifying Ride-share and Delivery Drivers as Employees
The Portland, Maine City Council voted unanimously on August 8, 2022, to send five citizen-initiated referendums to voters in the November election.
One of the referendums that will appear on the November 8 ballot – “An Act to Eliminate the Sub-Minimum Wage, Increase the Minimum Wage and Strengthen Protections
New York Appellate Court Takes First Crack at Interpreting NYC’s Freelancing Law
The First Department of the Supreme Court, Appellate Division (the “Appellate Division”) recently issued the first appellate decision interpreting New York City’s Freelance Isn’t Free Act (FIFA).1 Plaintiffs – a photography business and a model – first filed an administrative complaint against a high-end fashion label for failure to pay
Seattle Repeals Hazard Pay for Grocery Employees Ordinance
On August 2, 2022, the Seattle City Council voted to repeal the city’s $4 per hour COVID-19 pandemic “hazard pay” requirements related to grocery employees. Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell approved the measure the next day.
Updated CDC COVID-19 Guidance Eliminates Precautionary Quarantine, Focuses on Boosters, Masking, and Testing
On August 11, 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a new Summary of Guidance for Minimizing the Impact of COVID-19 on Individual Persons, Communities, and Health Care Systems. Observing that increasing levels of vaccination and recovery immunity to COVID-19 have “reduced the risk for medically significant
David Dubberly Interviewed with Radio Host Mike Switzer for the SC Business Review
Why You Secretly Love Dress Codes
When employees start arguing with each other about appropriate office wear, it can explode into accusations of harassment and bad feelings. Take a post at Reddit where a woman wearing a top with “thin straps” had a man come up to her and tell her to cover up–but he’s barefoot.
California Appellate Court Rules That Purely Digital Retail Businesses Are Not Covered Under the Unruh Civil Rights Act
On August 1, 2022, the Court of Appeal of the State of California, in Martinez v. Cot’n Wash, Inc., resolved two outstanding issues in the website accessibility field in a way that limits the reach of the Unruh Civil Rights Act (Unruh Act) as part of a growing resistance in