The Stoel Rives Labor & Employment Law Blog
Please note: The information below is based on what we know today, and that rules and regulations are literally changing daily. Employers need to be nimble and flexible – check your local rules on a daily basis.
As more and more people receive the COVID-19 vaccine, employees are starting to ask questions about mask requirements. …
On March 10, 2021, Congress passed its landmark $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, and President Biden signed the bill into law on March 11. The bill does not require employers to continue offering Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) leave, but it extends the FFCRA’s payroll tax credit provisions for employers who choose to offer…
As many of you know, effective November 16, 2020, the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OR OSHA”) adopted a comprehensive set of workplace safety rules designed to address the COVID-19 pandemic. (More information about the rules is available here, here and here). These temporary rules remain in effect until May 4, 2021.
In case you missed it (did anyone miss it?), President Joe Biden was sworn into office yesterday. Although workplace issues are hardly the only pressing item on the new President’s agenda, employers should be prepared for the rollout of additional employee protections under the Biden administration.
Priorities That President Biden Has Already Announced
Extending and …
*This article was originally published as a Legal Alert on December 17, 2020.
With the COVID-19 vaccine becoming available to some and just around the corner for others, the question on many employers’ (and employees’) minds is whether they can (or should) mandate employees be vaccinated as a condition of employment. The Equal Employment Opportunity…
Oregon OSHA has just released a series of materials, including sample training materials, to help employers comply with OR-OSHA’s temporary workplace safety rules related to COVID-19. We previously discussed the OR-OSHA rules here and here. The new materials are summarized below.
Employers must provide employees with COVID-19 information and training by…
With FDA approval of a COVID-19 vaccine possibly coming this week, employers are wondering whether they can require their employees to get vaccinated as a condition of employment. For many employers, the answer is yes, subject to a few exceptions.
As a general matter, employers are free to set the terms and conditions of employment…
On November 20, 2020, the California Occupational Safety and Health Standard Board adopted temporary regulations regarding measures that employers must undertake in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace. On November 30, those regulations went into effect and are set to be in place for at least 180 days. California employers must…
On the same day that Oregon’s statewide “freeze” went into effect, which we blogged about here, the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) issued new face covering guidance and new guidance for employers. That guidance is available here (face coverings) and here (employers).
Face Covering Guidance
Under the new face covering guidance, employees working in cubicles or similar settings must wear face coverings at all times except when eating or drinking, even if the individual workstations are more than six feet apart. While an employee in a “private individual workspace” need not wear a face covering, the new guidance limits “private individual workspace” to a space that is used by one individual at a time and is enclosed on all sides with floor-to-ceiling walls and a closed door (in other words, a traditional, private office). This is a departure from prior guidance, where “private individual workspace” was not so strictly defined.
Employer Guidance
The general employer guidance largely reiterates existing guidance, including that Oregon employers must comply with the new OR-OSHA rules, which we blogged about here. The guidance also includes the following:Continue Reading Oregon Issues New COVID-19 Guidance for Employers, Including Updated Face Covering Requirements
On November 13, 2020, after concluding that the previously proposed two-week “pause” did not go far enough, Governor Kate Brown announced a two-week statewide “freeze” aimed at slowing the rapid spread of COVID-19. The statewide freeze starts on Wednesday, November 18 and runs through December 2, 2020, meaning that the freeze will be in place…
