On March 22, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) partially reopened the comment period to allow for additional public comment on specific topics covered by its proposed final standard to protect healthcare workers from workplace exposure to COVID-19.
Continue Reading OSHA Seeks Comments on Proposed Final Rule Protecting Healthcare Works from Occupational Exposure to COVID-19

On January 13, 2022, the United States Supreme Court issued its highly anticipated decision blocking the Biden administration from enforcing an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) rule mandating vaccine-or-testing for large businesses.
Continue Reading Supreme Court Blocks Enforcement of OSHA Vaccine-or-Testing Mandate

Several updates related to COVID-19 vaccination mandates occurred this week at the federal and local levels.  On December 17, the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the stay on the federal government’s mandate that employees of covered employers receive a COVID-19 vaccination or undergo weekly testing.  The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) will begin enforcing the previously stayed Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”) on January 10, 2022.
Continue Reading Hello Again: OSHA’s COVID 19 Vaccination Mandate for Private Employers is Back, and NYC has Its Own

On November 4, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor (“OSHA”), issued its long-awaited Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”), applicable to employers with at least 100 employees.  The ETS was issued by OSHA pursuant to President Biden’s COVID-19 Action Plan, announced last month, and provides minimum requirements in the implementation of mandatory vaccination policies.  The 490 page ETS is effective immediately, and preempts or supersedes any state or municipal law that conflicts with its requirements.
Continue Reading OSHA Issues Long-Awaited Emergency Temporary Standard for Employers

Some people continue experiencing COVID-19 symptoms for weeks or months after first developing COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have defined “long COVID” as “new or ongoing symptoms that can last weeks or months after first being infected with the virus that causes COVID-19.”  With the rise of long COVID, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) provided guidance on Long COVID and how it qualifies as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”).
Continue Reading In It For The Long Haul: Employer Obligations To Employees With Long COVID Symptoms

In response to COVID-19 vaccination mandates and employer-mandated vaccination policies, federal agencies continue to issue guidance.  The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the U.S. Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) have released additional guidance addressing common employer concerns regarding vaccination status, discrimination, and reasonable accommodations.
Continue Reading Handling COVID-19 Vaccination Mandates: Federal Agencies Continue to Issue Guidance

On January 21, 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order on Protecting Worker Health and Safety. The order directed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to take action to reduce the risk that workers may contract COVID-19 in the workplace. On June 10, 2021, OSHA announced a highly-anticipated Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) setting forth steps that employers in the healthcare industry must take to protect workers from COVID-19 risks while the pandemic is ongoing. The ETS will become effective 14 days after it is formally published in the Federal Register.
Continue Reading OSHA Announces COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard for Healthcare Industry

On May 5, 2021, Governor Cuomo signed into law the Health and Essential Rights Act (HERO Act), which imposes on all non-public employers significant health and safety standards intended to address the spread of airborne infectious diseases, like COVID-19, in the workplace.  The HERO act is touted as the “first-in-the-nation” statute of its kind, apart from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act), which until now has governed applicable workplace safety standards.  It is not clear to what extent the HERO Act would be superseded by the OSH Act, but for now employers must ensure that they comply with its mandates.
Continue Reading New York Enacts HERO Act Requiring All Employers to Implement Health and Safety Standards to Address Airborne Infectious Diseases