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

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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NLRB to Revisit “Micro-units” Test

Kollman & Saucier
12/13/2021
Labor Law
On December 7, 2021, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) announced that it will revisit the “community of interest” standard for determining an appropriate bargaining unit. American Steel Construction, Inc., 371 NLRB No. 41 (2021). In so doing, the Board expressed a willingness to consider a return to the “micro-units” that were allowed under the Specialty Healthcare standard it overruled in 2017. American Steel Construction...
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Eric Paltell Presents on Collective Bargaining at Virginia Association of Counties Meeting

Kollman & Saucier
12/09/2021
Labor Law, Public Sector Employment Law, Virginia Employment Law
On May 1, 2021, Virginia's new law permitting local governments to enact collective bargaining legislation for employees took effect. On November 15, 2021,  K&S Partner Eric Paltell joined Virginia Senator Jennifer Boysko, Loudoun County Administrator Tim Hemstreet, and attorney Cynthia Hudson on a panel discussing the new law at the Virginia Association of Counties Annual Meeting in Norfolk.  Eric's presentation focused on steps...
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Georgia Judge Issues Nationwide Injunction Halting Implementation of Federal Contractor Vaccine Mandate

Vincent Jackson
12/08/2021
COVID-19
On December 7, 2021, a federal judge in Georgia issued a nationwide injunction blocking the implementation of the federal contractor vaccine mandate.  The halting of Executive Order 14042, which requires all contractors and subcontractors performing work on certain federal contracts to ensure that their employees are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, presents yet another twist in the legal fights over the vaccine mandate. While previous...
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Missouri Court is First To Block Healthcare Worker Vaccine Mandate Rule

Kollman & Saucier
11/30/2021
COVID-19
A federal court in Missouri has issued a preliminary injunction in a case brought by 10 states (Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Wyoming, Alaska, South Dakota, North Dakota and New Hampshire) challenging the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ interim rule issued on November 5, 2021.  The CMS rule requires certain healthcare workers at providers that participate in Medicare and Medicaid to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19,...
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Ninth Circuit Extends Ministerial Exception To High School Principal, Barring Race Claims Against Christian School

Kollman & Saucier
11/29/2021
Religious Discrimination
Although religious institutions are generally required to comply with federal anti-discrimination laws, certain exceptions apply. One of those exceptions is the “ministerial exception,” a legal doctrine that shields religious institutions from liability for employment discrimination claims brought by a “minister” of the institution. The exception, grounded in the religious clauses of the First Amendment, seeks to protect the rights of...
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What to Do When OSHA Comes Knocking

Kollman & Saucier
11/28/2021
COVID-19, Workplace Safety
In the effort to avoid writing yet another blog entry on COVID-19 related material, I am writing to inform our readers what they should do if an investigator from  the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) appears on at a jobsite. As you likely know, OSHA recently released a rule mandating that employers of 100 or more employees require all employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or subject to weekly testing.  We blogged about...
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OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard and Bargaining Obligation

Kollman & Saucier
11/11/2021
COVID-19, Labor Law, Workplace Safety
On November 4, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released its COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS).  Our summary of the ETS is available here.  On November 6, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the ETS pending further action.  Other challenges to the law have been filed in other federal appellate courts and other suits -- those saying that the ETS does not do enough --...
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Employee’s Pandemic-Related FMLA Claims Survive Dismissal

Kollman & Saucier
11/11/2021
COVID-19, FMLA, Virginia Employment Law
At the risk of stating the obvious, employees and employers alike have faced challenges throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.  Many have approached these challenges with an open-mind, flexibility, compassion.  A recent decision from a federal court in Virginia provides a useful reminder of these principles in the context of a worker’s claim that his former employer interfered with his rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act...
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Service Animals In The COVID-Era Workplace

Kollman & Saucier
11/05/2021
COVID-19, Reasonable Accommodations/Undue Burden
There are endless articles and blog posts about COVID and the workplace, whether managing remote workers, implementing a safe return to work, vaccination mandates, testing procedures, masking, reasonable accommodation requests on all of these issues, and all of the related issues that have been on the forefront for the past nineteen (!!) months.  One topic, however, that has not received as much press, at least per my internet searches, is handling...
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