Virginia’s COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standards Are Now Permanent The Virginia Department of Labor and Industry (DOLI) has enacted a Permanent Standard to replace the Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) (pdf) that became law for Virginia employers… Read more

Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine was approved by the FDA last Friday and distribution has already begun. Yet in a November Gallup Poll, only 58 percent of Americans said they would get a COVID-19 vaccine, up from… Read more

Just as we were getting used to COVID-related paid sick and family medical leave under the FFCRA, the DOL announced its revised regulations. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) requires all public employers and… Read more

The Department of Labor (DOL) issued long-awaited guidance on paid family leave and jobless benefits when schools are open for in-person, virtual, or hybrid learning. Workers, DOL says, are ineligible for virus-related paid family leave… Read more

An employee said he’s not coming to work because COVID-19 makes him “feel unsafe.” Do Virginia’s workplace safety standards really say he can do that? There is good reason to take precautions to protect your… Read more

DOL’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2020-5 (pdf) reiterating that pandemic or no, the FLSA requires employers to compensate employees for all hours worked remotely when the employer “knew or… Read more

State of New York v. United States Department of Labor On August 3rd, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued an opinion invalidating some fundamental aspects of the Families First… Read more

The Virginia Safety and Health Codes Board formally adopted the Temporary Safety Standards and they are effective immediately. They expire at the end of the year unless repealed earlier or extended. The final version of… Read more

UPDATE July 21, 2020:  The Virginia Safety and Health Codes Board has formally adopted the Temporary Safety Standards. The Board stated these standards “will take immediate effect” some time “during the week of July 27,… Read more