COVID-19 Viewpoints

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.

Recently enacted H.R. 133, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (“the Act”), is a massive, 5,593-page piece of legislation that includes appropriations for the U.S. government for the upcoming fiscal year and funding for coronavirus emergency response and relief, among many other things.

Politics will have an effect on FDA policies in 2021, including with respect to the ongoing COVID-19 response, manufacturing, compliance, digital health, laboratories, user fees, device servicing, 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).

Mounting anxiety over how to control the spread of infectious disease outbreaks encourages public and political discourse of bioethics.

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.

In addition to the incredible work of agency scientists and reviewers to get the first COVID-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use in December (as we covered in Part 2 of our year-end post), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has continued to make substantial progress on its non-COVID priorities as well, which we cover in this part 3 of our year-end post.

Late on December 21, 2020, the Senate debated and approved a COVID-19 relief package and omnibus spending bill for 2021 that included, deep in its 5,500-plus pages, tax extenders for a selection of renewables tax credits, including a one-year extension for the wind production tax credit ("ITC") and a two-year extension for the solar investment tax credit ("ITC"), as well as a five-year extension for offshore wind projects taking the ITC. The bill, which was earlier approved by the House, is expected to be signed by President Trump later this week.

Following up on our colleagues’ post earlier this month covering the Food and Drug Administration’s 2020 device law and policy activities, this post will explore prescription drug and biologic law and policy developments over the past year. We’ll also begin looking forward into 2021 and the agency’s transition to an incoming Biden Administration.

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.

On December 15, 2020, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it is still experiencing delays in issuing receipt notices for filed petitions and applications.

The fiscal year 2021 (“FY2021”) budget process has been anything but typical. Shortly after Governor Baker’s budget proposal was released in January, the COVID-19 pandemic struck, reorienting the legislative calendar for the remainder of the 2019-2020 legislative session.

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.

With the presidential transition underway, we now look forward to what the Biden administration will seek to accomplish, particularly in the realm of health care policy.

On November 18, 2020, The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced they would again extend flexibility relating to in-person Form I-9 compliance.

As the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions continue, many who have endured long separations from home and family are eager to travel as the holidays approach. Everyone considering holiday travel is urged to carefully consider the risks and be fully aware of how ongoing conditions may impact travel.

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.