On May 3, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) held a public meeting to discuss its ongoing activities regarding heat-related hazards, including its Heat Illness Prevention Campaign, compliance assistance activities and enforcement efforts. What do employers need to know about this latest move by OSHA?  Why Was This Meeting Held? On Oct. 27, 2021, OSHA

​Because there is no federal law prohibiting or limiting an employer’s use of noncompetition agreements and other restrictive covenants in employment contracts, states have “grown impatient” and are starting to pass their own laws, said Kelly Dobbs Bunting, an attorney with Greenberg Traurig in Philadelphia. “There are legitimate reasons for employers to maintain restrictive covenants,

The employee retention credit (ERC), also referred to as the employee retention tax credit (ERTC), was created in March 2020 to encourage eligible businesses to keep employees on payroll. It had been set to expire on Jan. 1, 2022, but the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law in November accelerated the end of

Do you want a culture of ‘speaking up’ where people bring ‘their whole selves’ to work? Perhaps this is one of your values or ‘cultural pillars’ – but hang on, what do you actually mean? Who do you want to speak up? About what? To whom? Who would you rather not speak up? About what

Employers can now offer employees participating in health flexible spending accounts (FSAs) and dependent care FSAs greater flexibility for rolling over unused funds through 2022, under new IRS guidance. IRS Notice 2021-15, issued Feb. 18, addresses how to apply the FSA relief provisions in the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Relief Act, which was incorporated into the

​The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued worker safety guidance for coronavirus protection programs on Jan. 29, requiring greater input from employees and enhanced mask protections. “Protecting Workers: Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace” provides updated guidance and recommendations and outlines existing safety and health standards. The guidance

On Dec. 10, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling that allows individual states to enact laws regulating pharmacy benefit managers’ (PBMs’) ability to set prices for prescription drugs paid for by employee health plans. The court found that these laws, with certain limits, do not violate the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

​Employers have a duty to keep workplaces free from known hazards—including coronavirus-related dangers—under Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards. OSHA announced on Nov. 6 that the agency has cited 179 worksites for coronavirus-related violations and proposed a total of $2,496,768 in penalties since the pandemic began, through Oct. 29. Although the agency hasn’t implemented

Employers that are converting furloughs into permanent layoffs need to ensure compliance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act and COBRA. “One major misstep for employers is to assume that furloughing employees allows the employer to completely forget about the WARN Act,” said Daniel Altchek, an attorney with Saul Ewing in Baltimore and

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released updated guidance on Sept. 8 clarifying that employers can screen workers for COVID-19 without violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) if they follow guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other authorities. “Consistent with the ADA standard, employers should ensure that the