Employment, Labor & Benefits

Please join Mintz’s Employment, Labor & Benefits and Health Law attorneys and noted immunologist Dr. Darryl Carter for a webinar to discuss key takeaways from the EEOC’s recently updated vaccination guidance and other COVID-19–related workplace question.

Read the transcript of CompensationStandard.com’s November 2020 webcast titled, “Pay Equity: What Compensation Committees Need to Know” in which Anne L. Bruno was among the experts to discuss pay equity, shareholder expectations, disclosure trends, board oversight, and more.

Happy New Year! While many of us are thrilled to see 2020 in the rear view, 2021 ushers in a huge challenge for Massachusetts employers – the beginning of benefits and Job protections under the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave law (MAPFML).

The New York City Council has expanded NYC’s Fair Chance Act to further restrict NYC employers from taking adverse actions against applicants or employees based on their criminal history.  The law will go into effect on or about July 28, 2021.  We highlight the changes in the law and action items below.

The District of Columbia Council has passed the Ban On Non-Compete Agreements Amendment Act of 2020 (“the Act”). If it goes into effect (and we are monitoring closely whether it will), it will almost entirely ban non-compete agreements in D.C., prohibiting employers from restricting an employee’s employment by a competitor and giving D.C. the distinction of joining California, North Dakota, and Oklahoma, with one of the broadest statutory bans of non-compete agreements in the United States.

In a recently decided case, Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) does not preempt an Arkansas statute that regulates reimbursement levels paid by Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) to local pharmacies.

The new COVID-19 stimulus package is now law. As discussed herein, it provides some employers an incentive to extend COVID-19 related FFCRA leave benefits through Q1 2021.

The EEOC has updated its guidance regarding mandatory vaccination in the workplace and has outlined the permissible scope of a mandatory vaccination program. While the guidance has neither the force nor application of a statute or regulation, it provides a compelling structure for a legally compliant mandatory workplace vaccination program.

Mintz Member Jennifer B. Rubin authored an article published by Law360 that examined legal challenges employers face as they contemplate the impact of the coronavirus vaccine on the workforce, and how mandatory vaccination programs may create a workforce of immuno-haves, or those who have received the vaccination, and potentially expose employers to employment and consumer claims.

California employers are now subject to three new COVID-19 related reporting obligations when there is a COVID-19 positive employee or employees in their workplaces, including: reporting to their (1) workers’ compensation carrier, (2) employees and other workers, and (3) local public health authority. We address each obligation below.

Governor Cuomo has announced new guidelines allowing travelers to New York to sidestep the State’s mandatory 14-day quarantine period by obtaining a series of negative COVID-19 diagnostic test results before and after arriving in New York. Previously, the State mandated a 14-day quarantine for travelers from an evolving list of “high-risk” states that had a high rate of COVID-19 positive testing per capita. Now, the new framework applies to travelers from all states in the U.S. except those that are contiguous with New York (Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Vermont), which are already exempt from the 14-day quarantine requirement.

The new protocol became effective Wednesday, November 4, 2020.

The New York Department of Taxation and Finance has finally provided guidance regarding telecommuting tax liability for nonresident employees working outside of New York because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In short: employees telecommuting because of COVID-19 will generally still be required to pay New York taxes on income they earn.

A quick update to our earlier posts on New York State and New York City’s paid sick leave laws. The agency that enforces NYC’s paid sick and safe time law – the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection – has just released its updated sick and safe time Notice of Employee Rights, which you can access here. We highlight some compliance issues to consider below.

This week, New York State issued guidance and an FAQ document regarding the State’s new paid sick leave law (“NYPSL”). As a reminder, New York State enacted statewide paid sick leave requirements for employers under Section 196-b of the New York Labor Law and they took effect on September 30, 2020. We provided an overview of the new NYPSL requirements for New York State employers in our previous post.
These permanent paid sick leave requirements (which differ from the COVID-19 quarantine leave measures that New York State enacted earlier this year) require New York employers to provide all employees with sick leave (which varies based upon the employer’s size), and grant employees the ability to use accrued sick time starting January 1, 2021.
The new guidance issued by New York State provides some clarity on select NYPSL topics, but leaves a number of questions unresolved. We provide a summary of key new information from the guidance for employers below:

Months into the COVID-19 pandemic, many employer telecommuting arrangements remain in place, with several large corporations opting to extend these arrangements well into 2021. The benefits of such arrangements have been clear for many employers during the pandemic, including that they permit continued productivity while keeping employees safe. However, the longer that employees remain out of the office, the more telecommuting-related issues arise, including with respect to taxation of employee income and leave requirements, which we discuss below.

With the presidential election less than a month away, it is more important than ever that employers proactively manage their work environment to protect against the potential pitfalls that can arise when political discussions occur in the workplace. The new remote working environment in which many employers find themselves only adds a layer of complexity to this challenge. We discuss this difficult issue further below.

California has enacted the nation’s first diversity mandate for public company boards. As we previously reported, the new law (AB 979) builds upon California’s first- in-the nation statutory gender mandate for public company boards.

The New York State Paid Sick Leave Law’s accrual provisions go into effect today, September 30, 2020.  In April, Governor Cuomo signed into law new permanent paid sick leave requirements for all New York State employers (separate from COVID-19 leave which was passed in March and went into effect immediately).  Employees may begin using sick leave for purposes consistent with the law on January 1, 2021.  Although we expect the New York State Department of Labor to issue guidance or regulations on the new law, the agency has not done so to date.  We will continue to monitor for any updates. 

Meanwhile, the New York City Council swiftly passed an updated Sick and Safe Time law to align the City’s law more closely with the New York State sick leave law.  But there are some important differences with the State’s sick leave law.

Our full analysis of New York State’s new paid sick leave law can be found here.  More information on the City’s updated sick leave law, which also went into effect today, is addressed further below. 

Updated: The EEOC has provided employers with supplemental guidance on navigating the COVID-19 outbreak, addressing issues such as COVID-related harassment and screening employees who are reporting to work. The EEOC reminded employers that while the anti-discrimination laws, including the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act, continue to apply during the COVID-19 pandemic, these laws do not interfere with, or prevent employers from following, the guidelines and suggestions issued by the CDC or state and local public health authorities regarding COVID-19.