COVID-19 Archives - Kollman & Saucier P.A.

EEOC Files Amicus Brief In Support Of Religious Accommodations For Refusing Mandatory Covid-19 Vaccinations

Vincent Jackson

11/09/2023

Agency Activity, COVID-19, EEOC, Employment Discrimination, Religious Discrimination

In a recent amicus brief filed in the 8th Circuit, the EEOC has urged heightened protections for workers who object to mandatory vaccinations due to sincerely-held religious beliefs. The EEOC's amicus brief highlights the unique difficulties employers face when forced to accommodate a religious belief under Title VII. The case, Ringhofer v. Mayo Clinic Ambulance, involves two longtime employees who worked as a paramedic and registered nurse for...

Vincent Jackson

09/29/2023

COVID-19, EEOC, Employment Discrimination, Reasonable Accommodations/Undue Burden, Religious Discrimination

The impact of the Supreme Court’s June 2023 ruling in Groff v. DeJoy, which raised the standard for employers to accommodate religious exemptions, is beginning to be felt in lower courts. Gone are the days when an employer can lawfully disregard a religious accommodation if it imposes more than a de minimis cost on the business. With Groff, employers must now demonstrate that the burden of granting a religious accommodation for an employee...

Kollman & Saucier

03/27/2023

COVID-19, First Amendment Protections, Religious Discrimination

The world is seemingly going back to pre-Covid normalcy. Masks, while still present some places, no longer litter the trashcans outside grocery stores and restaurants. People are taking a big breath of fresh air, and not just six feet from someone. Nevertheless, litigation concerning Covid and company policies regarding the vaccine linger in courts around the U.S. One such case has seemingly come to an end and the company is out of a...

Kollman & Saucier

05/18/2022

COVID-19, Public Sector Employment Law

On April 21, 2022, New York Judge Judy H. Kim denied a request for a preliminary injunction filed by various unions on behalf of approximately 1,300 unvaccinated New York City (NY City) employees who were terminated from their positions on February 11, 2022. The Plaintiffs in this case seek declaratory relief from the court, claiming their termination was in violation of their due process rights as well as a permanent injunction to require the...

Kollman & Saucier

04/21/2022

COVID-19

Two federal employees sued President Biden, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Secretary of Defense, seeking to enjoin Executive Order 14,043. That Executive Order, with limited exceptions, requires that all federal employees be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The employees argued the vaccine mandate is unconstitutional and violates their rights to due process, privacy, and bodily integrity. They asked the United States...

Kollman & Saucier

02/24/2022

COVID-19, Disability & Leave

A U.S. District Court in Alabama recently addressed whether COVID-19 can be a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Brown v. Roanoke Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center, No. 3:2021cv00590 – Document 22 (M.D. Ala. 2022). In the summer of 2020, Lucious Brown was terminated from her position as a certified nursing assistant for failing to report to work on the 13th day of a 14-day COVID-19 isolation period. At the time of...

Kollman & Saucier

01/27/2022

COVID-19, Workplace Safety

As our Garrett Wozniak wrote on January 13, 2022, the United States Supreme Court stayed implementation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (“OSHA”) vaccination or test Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”) for large employers (100 or more employees). The stay effectively ended the ability for OSHA to implement this ETS, as the Supreme Court ruled that the stay would remain in effect following a final decision from...

Kollman & Saucier

01/13/2022

COVID-19, Workplace Safety

The Supreme Court today issued a stay blocking the Biden Administration’s COVID-19 vaccination or test rule for employers with 100 or more employees. NFIB v. OSHA, Nos. 21A244 and 21A247 (Jan. 13, 2022). The majority found that those challenging the Emergency Temporary Standard ("ETS") “are likely to succeed on the merits of their claim that the Secretary [of Labor] lacked authority to impose the mandate.” In its, 6-3 per curiam...

Kollman & Saucier

12/18/2021

COVID-19

Late yesterday, United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit dissolved a nationwide injunction against OSHA's emergency rule requiring employers with at least 100 workers to mandate that their employees get vaccinated against Covid-19 or get tested regularly. This morning, the United States Department of Labor announced that employers have until January 10, 2022 to come into compliance with the rule, although it agreed to defer enforcing...

Vincent Jackson

12/15/2021

Agency Activity, COVID-19

On December 14, 2021, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued updated guidance on when COVID-19 constitutes a disability under Title I of the ADA. Under the ADA, a person can be an individual with a disability in one of three ways: “Actual” Disability: a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity (such as walking, talking, seeing, hearing, etc.); “Record of” a Disability: the person has a...

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EEOC Files Amicus Brief In Support Of Religious Accommodations For Refusing Mandatory Covid-19 Vaccinations

Repercussions of Supreme Court’s Groff Decision Start Appearing In Religious Exemption Cases

“Preserve” Your Constitutional Rights, But Not Against A Private Employer

New York State Trial Court Denies Union’s Request for Preliminary Injunction to Restore Unvaccinated Employees

Fourth Circuit Dismisses Vaccine Mandate Suit By Federal Employees

COVID-19 May Be A Disability Under the ADA

OSHA Announces Withdrawal of Large Employer Vaccination and Testing ETS

Supreme Court Blocks OSHA ETS Requiring Vaccination or Testing

OSHA Vax-or-Test Rule Reinstated

EEOC Issues New Guidance on When COVID-19 Qualifies as a Disability

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Category: COVID-19

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