The Stoel Rives Labor & Employment Law Blog
*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…
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…
Utah residents were advised Sunday night of a state of emergency arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to a significant spike in cases and attendant strain on Utah hospital facilities and health care providers, Governor Gary Herbert issued Executive Order 2020-73 (the “Executive Order”), imposing new restrictions to curb the transmission of the COVID-19…
The Oregon Health Authority recently updated the state’s COVID-19 guidance to expand the use of face coverings to public and private offices. Under the new rule, masks, face coverings, or face shields are required at all times for office employees, including in hallways, bathrooms, elevators, lobbies, break rooms, and other common spaces, unless employees…
Effective January 1, 2020, Oregon law requires employers with six or more employees to make reasonable accommodations for known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or a related medical condition, such as lactation, unless the accommodation would cause an undue hardship. An employer’s accommodation obligations extend beyond those already required by the federal Americans with Disabilities …
At midnight on May 31, Governor Inslee’s “Stay Home – Stay Healthy” order expired, replaced by his “Safe Start – Stay Healthy” order of the same day (“Safe Start Proclamation”). Under the Safe Start Proclamation, any county may apply to transition to Phase II of the Safe Start Washington plan if it can…
Most employers are aware of the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) created by the CARES Act that could provide assistance with meeting payroll, but the program quickly ran out of money, leaving many without funding. To address that and other issues, the Senate passed the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, see here,…
On April 16, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-51-20 (the “Order”). Similar to laws recently enacted by local California jurisdictions, the Order entitles certain workers to paid leave for reasons related to COVID-19 who are otherwise ineligible for such paid leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”).
As discussed here, FFCRA requires employers to provide employees with up to 80 hours of paid leave for reasons related to COVID-19. Notably, however, FFCRA excludes from its scope employees working for employers with 500 or more employees.
Since FFCRA’s enactment, numerous local jurisdictions have passed ordinances attempting to fill the gap left by FFCRA by requiring employers with 500 or more employees to provide paid leave for reasons related to COVID-19. This includes the cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Los Angeles.
While similar to those ordinances, the Order issued by Governor Newsom is different in that it applies to “Food Sector Workers” and “Hiring Entities.” Specifically, it provides that Hiring Entities are required to provide Food Sector Workers with up to 80 hours of paid sick leave (“COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave”) to the extent the workers are unable to work for any of the following reasons:
For at least the next two months, Washington employers are required to take extra measures to accommodate employees characterized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to be at higher than normal risk of severe illness or death if they contract COVID-19. On April 13, Governor Inslee issued Proclamation 20-46, “High-Risk Employees – Workers’ Rights,” prohibiting all Washington employers, both public and private, from failing to provide accommodations to high-risk workers, defined by the CDC as:
Employees in the above high-risk categories are now afforded additional accommodation rights under the Governor’s Proclamation. Between now and June 12 (subject to extension by the Governor), you must take the following steps if you are a Washington employer:
Continue Reading Washington Governor Mandates That Employers Accommodate Employees at High Risk of Contracting COVID-19
