Employer Law Blog

On November 10, 2021, Acting Associate General Counsel Joan A. Sullivan issued a memorandum to all Regional Directors of the National Labor Relations Board, advising them regarding the position of the Office of the General Counsel (“Office”) on the basic legal framework that they will apply to the employer’s duty to bargain the implementation of the COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”) that was recently issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”).

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented countless challenges to employers across all industries for well over a year now, as rules and guidance from state and federal agencies continue to develop – and change. These changes have left many questions unanswered; however, we have definitive instructions now regarding employers with federal contracts. 

As we finally closed out 2020, the required leave provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) also came to a close. However, the Department of Labor issued two new FAQ’s on its website (FAQ 104 and 105), clarifying that if an employee has not exhausted their FFCRA leave prior to January 1, 2021, a covered employer may elect to voluntarily extend the employee’s deadline to do so through March 31, 2021.

As we enter our ninth month of the pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has reduced the recommended duration of quarantine periods for casual COVID-19 exposures, from 14 days to 7-10 days.