On June 21, 2021, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) long-anticipated Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) for COVID-19 requirements in the healthcare industry went into effect. Most of the requirements must be followed by July 6, 2021; the remainder (on implementing physical barriers, improved ventilation systems and employee trainings) must be implemented no later than July 21, 2021, according to McDermott’s Abigail M. Kagan and Michelle S. Strowhiro. OSHA’s COVID-19 safety requirements are workplace-specific. Employers who have some employees working in a patient setting and other employees working in a corporate setting may need to follow the requirements only for the patient-based setting.
As governments lift COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, employers are turning to artificial intelligence tools to accelerate their hiring processes.
However, these AI-based tools can open businesses up to discrimination claims if they are not careful, according to McDermott partner Brian Mead.
“[The technology] could decide that certain words [are] unlikely to [yield] successful candidates, and then it’s prescreening out members of protected classes and categories of applicants in a discriminatory way,” Mead said in a recent Law360 article.
When the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) relaxed its mask guidance in May, the news caught many people—especially corporate America—off guard.
In this Forbesarticle, McDermott partner Michael W. Peregrine argues that companies need to provide stakeholders with clear health and safety messaging in light of mandates from state and local governments.
“Companies can ill-afford to drift in the wind of confusion and controversy, and they can’t be blindsided by further guidance change should there be an increase in reported cases or should variants, like those first found in India, surface in the United States,” Peregrine writes.
As more businesses reopen in the wake of COVID-19, many employees are seeking to continue their remote work arrangements indefinitely.
In this Los Angeles Times article, McDermott partner Michelle S. Strowhiro suggests employees share their wishes with their employer sooner instead of later.
“Now is the time to help shape those policies,” Strowhiro notes.
The question of whether or not to make vaccinations mandatory for workers is being considered by employers globally, particularly those in the healthcare sector. In this video, McDermott Will & Emery partner Carole A. Spink outlines some of the most common employer-related vaccine questions, including incentives and data privacy concerns. Spink and McDermott partner Paul McGrath recently also wrote for McDermott’s International News about this topic.
McDermott Will & Emery lawyers Jennifer S. Geetter and Allyn N. Rosenberger recommend that employers consider using a “closed point of dispensing” model to expedite COVID-19 vaccinations for their workforce by arranging for health care providers to inoculate employees using government-provided vaccines.
On May 5, 2021, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law the New York Health and Essential Rights (HERO) Act, which imposes stringent new workplace safety requirements for all employers in New York. The law is expected to take effect on June 4, 2021.
Recently, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released three new FAQs for employers who recommend or require employees to receive COVID-19 vaccines. OSHA is responsible for enforcing workplace safety standards across the US.
McDermott previously reported that employers can require employees to be vaccinated as a condition of employment, though employers should consider several factors before making the decision to require employee vaccinations. The new OSHA guidance highlights additional considerations when requiring employee vaccinations.
On April 16, 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill (SB) 93 into law, a rehiring and retention law which requires employers in certain industries to make written job offers to employees who were laid off because of the impact of COVID-19. The law takes immediate effect and will remain in effect until December 31, 2024. Previously, some California cities adopted their own versions of local ordinances providing for a right to be recalled, including Carlsbad, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland, Pasadena, San Diego, San Francisco and Santa Clara.
Employers have questions about the COVID-19 vaccine and how to update their employment policies. In this video, McDermott partners, Chris Braham, Chris Foster and Michelle Strowhiro answer questions about vaccine requirements in the workforce, additional considerations and more.
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