On Friday, November 12, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an order staying enforcement and implementation of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) COVID-19 “vaccine or test” emergency temporary standard.
Some states are continuing to push back on government and private employer vaccine mandates through state legislation and lawsuits against the federal government.
On November 5, 2021, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed into law Senate Bill 9 that places new limits on Alabama employers’ ability to terminate the employment of workers who refuse a mandated COVID-19 vaccine.
OSHA has issued an Emergency Temporary Standard requiring all employers with at least 100 employees to ensure their workers are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly COVID-19 testing.
On November 4, 2021, the Biden administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued an interim final rule requiring healthcare worker vaccinations.
As the world closes in on the two-year anniversary of the beginning of the pandemic, and in the face of stagnating rates of vaccination, governments and employers anxious to return to “normal” have been increasingly requiring that workers be vaccinated.
The Safer Federal Workforce Task Force has published additional FAQs to guide federal contractors and subcontractors working to comply with the requirements of Executive Order 14042, Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors.
On October 28, 2021, the DOL announced publication of a final “dual jobs” rule, which reverses course from a December 2020 final rule and resurrects the so-called “80/20 Rule” that governs how tipped employees must be paid under the FLSA.
The Colorado Department of Labor Division of Labor Standards and Statistics has proposed modifications to its Wage Protection Rules and has published proposed Colorado Overtime and Minimum Pay Standards (COMPS) Order #38.
