Rojgar Job News

For those that have seen the trends in France, Spain, Italy and more, it seems clear that we’re about to enter a new phase of this coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic here in Connecticut: Lockdown. As businesses can and must plan their workplaces for worst-case scenarios, it’s important to first understand that the term lockdown isn’t entirely accurate. There IS still business going on, just in far more limited quantities. So, for perspective and for businesses trying to plan for their employees, here are some things Italy (and other nations) have implemented that could be in the cards here.  Given the speed at which this pandemic is moving, it’s not unrealistic to think this may happen this week. What is impacted? All stores except groceries and pharmacies are to be closed. (One could see “groceries” to include some big box stores like Target or Wal-Mart that double as groceries.) All workplaces that are recreational or leisure in nature (what some ...

Fun fact: There was no class on pandemics in law school. Sure, we briefly joked about the power that Governors and Presidents COULD exert in case of an emergency but it was mostly in the context of nuclear war and talking about how a Secretary of Commerce could become President (yes, this was way before Designated Survivor). And yet this week, my fellow lawyers and I have been fielding calls that would’ve seemed absolutely crazy a few weeks ago. The weird thing is that I’ve been driving a few of my friends, family and colleagues a little crazy with my predictions for over a month that we were headed here. I got designated a COVID-19 “expert” (no certificate required!) early on and frankly, I think they were humoring me. How DO you practice law in a pandemic? In answering that I’m reminded of a joke about how you tell the difference between a male and female bear? Very carefully. Over the course of this week in particular, I’ve had several conference c...

Late on Friday, March 13, 2020, the Connecticut Department of Labor issued new FAQ for employees and employers dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of this may be repetitive of what I and others have posted before, but I thought it would be helpful to provide both a link to the materials but also some of the content relevant to employers as well. As the CTDOL notes, however, this FAQ should not be taken as legal gospel. It’s simply an attempt to provide some needed guidance here.  As you will see, it still leaves some decisions down to a case-by case basis. For example, if an employer requires an employee self-quarantine even though he/she is not sick (or, closes its doors for a 2 week period) and doesn’t pay its employees, are the employees eligible for unemployment? Probably, though the DOL says decisions will still be made on a case-by-case basis. Here are some other FAQ: What happens if an employer cuts an employee’s hours to part-time; is the employee sti...

Wednesday felt like a breaking point. The day when COVID-19 seemed to come out from under your office desk and said “You’re surrounded. Go home.” NBA – Suspending its season indefinitely. Schools in Fairfield County – Closed with the likelihood that more schools will follow soon. Tom Hanks – Another COVID-19 victim. Of course, this isn’t impacting everywhere at the same time. But it seems that several businesses are starting to contemplate severe restrictions in their workplace.  (Update: Thursday morning, Governor Lamont recommended that all businesses try to have employees work from home ASAP.)   Sure, many businesses will stay open or try to; we’ll need markets, pharmacies and utilities just to name a few.  But those businesses that can try to minimize their workplace interactions, probably will — or at least try to move to a remote-only workplace. Even the courts are now getting into the act by showing how the viru...

A few weeks ago, I talked about the impact that a public health emergency might have on employers and the statute addressing such emergencies. Today, Governor Ned Lamont invoked those provisions in declaring a public health emergency. But in doing so, he also invoked another provision, Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 28-9 –– the civil preparedness emergency statute. And it’s that provision that — potentially — gives him broad powers unlike any that we see in normal times. The key provision here is Section 28-9(b)(1) which states, in part: Following the Governor’s proclamation of a civil preparedness emergency pursuant to subsection (a) of this section or declaration of a public health emergency pursuant to section 19a-131a, the Governor may modify or suspend in whole or in part, by order as hereinafter provided, any statute, regulation or requirement or part thereof whenever the Governor finds such statute, regulation or requirement, or part thereof, is in con...

Each day of late feels like a week in terms of the firehose of news pouring out each day. On Monday came news that Italy was going on lockdown.  For a month. And Connecticut state government rolled out a series of orders that included no travel and limits on meeting sizes to 100 or less. And New Haven cancelled it’s St. Patrick’s Day parade. (Hartford was said to be considering it as well.) And the federal court in Manhattan issued orders restricting courthouse access to cases. It’s gotten me thinking a lot about how these next few months might start to look for employment law and litigation around the state (and litigation in general). It’s not pretty. Start, for example, with claims filed at the CHRO. Will in-person mediation sessions and fact-findings still be scheduled? Will public hearings have to be postponed? And then there are the lawsuits. Will case deadlines be automatically extended? Will people want depositions to still be done in person? How are...

On Wednesday, February 26th, the CDC reported the first case of COVID-19 where the source of the chain is, as yet, unknown.  That might indicate that community spread of the virus is going undetected in California. Regardless, the CDC has warned that spread of the virus is inevitable; Connecticut joined the chorus on Wednesday preaching preparedness. Employers that have overseas operations have already started to think of these issues. Complying with requirements in China, or Italy seem to change daily and the advice seems to get tweaked as well. And while employers need to be aware of the laws that will apply, the fact remains that the issues that employers have to deal with are far more complex.  There are literally hundreds of questions on the table.  What are just some of those questions? Suppose an employee’s child gets sick with suspected COVID-19.  Should the employee be barred from the workplace during the incubation period? And if so, are you prepared ...

From time to time, I have a conversation on this blog (titled “The Dialogue”) with Nina Pirrotti, a prominent labor & employment attorney representing employees in the New Haven area. With all of us now working from home for the foreseeable future, Nina and I thought we’d bring back this recurring feature — with a pandemic twist. We did the conversation via video conference! Because if there’s a winner from this loser of a year so far, it’s the widescale adoption of the video conference.  Never mind that my home office is doubling as our “bunker” with extra supplies (Pop Tarts anyone?).  It’s just good to connect. In this segment, we talk about what our respective clients have been going through and where we see this crisis in a few months. My thanks, as always, to Nina for the conversation.  Attorneys representing management and employees can sometimes disagree but we don’t have to be disagreeable with each ...

The news late Friday was not unexpected. The Governor is shutting down the offices of non-essential businesses including non-profits. But if I had told you two weeks ago that Connecticut would be issuing an order telling non-essential businesses that their offices would have to close, I’m not sure I would’ve had many believers. And yet, here we are. Executive Order 7H has been something I’ve been trying to get employers to prepare for, particularly in a prior post. Here’s the key text: All businesses and not-for-profit entities in the state shall employ, to the maximum extent possible, any telecommuting or work from home procedures that they can safely employ. Non-essential businesses or not-for-profit entities shall reduce their in-person workforces at any workplace locations by 100% not later than March 23, 2020 at 8:00 p.m. Any essential business or entity providing essential goods, services or functions shall not be subject to these in-person restrictions....

Thursday brought still another busy day of news as increased testing in Connecticut brought a big jump in numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases.  We’re starting to hear about employers considering furloughing employees instead of simply laying them off. (Though the numbers of layoffs in Connecticut is over 54,000 — since Friday.) In general terms, a furlough that some are considering would involve setting an employee to “zero hours” in schedule and not paying him or her a salary. (There are different types of furloughs, to be fair.) Sort of like an unpaid leave of absence, if you will. But the employee would still be eligible under some health insurance plans to remain on the company plan with the company and employee still contributing the same amounts as during regular employment. This option is attractive to some because of concerns that a loss of job might result in a COVID-19 related illness left uncovered by insurance.  It also avoids the “yo...

Wednesday was supposed to be the first day of vacation for me and my family in Florida. Instead, I spent it at home helping clients run from one crisis to another. It’s pretty amazing how quickly all of our lives have changed so dramatically. Also amazing: Congress passed major legislation on leave related to COVID-19.  In record time. Normally, I would recap those types of things here but everyone (including, to be fair, my lawfirm) has already recapped it so I have little to add.  That said, you can and should read my firm’s recap here.  What else transpired on Wednesday that Connecticut employers need to be aware of? Another day, another executive order — this one titled “7F” (quick question: What happens after 7Z? Let’s hope we don’t have to get there). This one closed recreational facilities such as bowling alleys and zoos.  Expect more closures in the coming days. Access Health CT announced that it was having a special ...

Before I do a recap, I want to share a hopeful tidbit. My friend Tim plays the bagpipes. For the last few years, St. Patrick’s Day (and the weekend) is his favorite time because his band rents a bus and tours pubs across Connecticut. Suffice to say, there was no pub crawl yesterday. But after the workday, we got a text. Come to the street at 5:30 p.m. Stay in your car. And at 5:30 p.m., out waltzed Tim in his full garb playing the bagpipes — at a safe social distancing distance — for neighbors and a few friends. Really, you couldn’t ask for much more after another tough day for employers and employees. Late on Tuesday, Connecticut announced that 30,000 unemployment claims had been filed since Friday. To give some perspective: In January 2020, Connecticut reported nonfarm employment at 1.696M. Extrapolating the numbers a bit, suppose the 30,000 job loss takes us down to 1.666M. The last time Connecticut had that number was in July of 2014.  Meaning five years...

Wednesday evening is the first night of Passover — one of my favorite Jewish holidays. (And, not surprisingly, not the first time I’ve written about it.) Why? Traditionally, it is one of the few times the entire extended family gets together and celebrates with great homemade food. Think matzo ball soup, gefilte fish, hard-boiled eggs, latkes (yes, my family eats them for Passover too) and, of course, my mother’s meatballs (made with my late-grandmother’s recipe, of course). But this year will be different. No family seder. At least not in person. Instead, we are using the 2020 technology instead – a video conference. Call it the Year of the Zoom Seder. Will it work? Well it won’t be the same, but it’ll be different. And that’s just fine by me.  At least we’re together. And what about the food? Well, as it turns out, my mother lives nearby and we did a distanced tradeoff.  I received a fresh batch of matzo ball soup and mea...

Are you a business confused by all the federal legislation coming out, including both FFCRA and the CARES Act? Or would you just like to hear the latest on what employers need to know now? If so, various Fairfield County chambers of commerce are sponsoring a free webinar that should be informative for  every employer in Connecticut.  It’s scheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday), April 8th and running from 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. You can register for it here. As with the webinar that I did with New Haven Chamber last week, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy will join the webinar and share the very latest from Washington. I will be speaking on the webinar about various employment law issues. I anticipate talking about the very latest from the DOL on the paid leave provisions and the unemployment provisions of the CARES Act. Also joining the webinar are Michael D’Addio  from Marcum to talk about the tax issues and Valeria Bisceglia who will talk about small business develo...

As if the pandemic weren’t disorienting enough, the rules and guidance surrounding unemployment compensation feels as if it keeps changing too. While that’s not entirely accurate — Connecticut’s rules are basically unchanged though some of the application of those rules have been tweaked — the new CARES Act has added a layer of complexity that we are only now beginning to sort out. Add to that new guidance released Saturday evening (here) and even more new guidance released by the Department of Labor on Sunday evening, and that’s when things have gotten messy. I can’t recap everything in a single blog post but my partner Peter Murphy has some additional guidance on this issue as well in a post today.   For Connecticut employers, your first resource  must be the CTDOL FAQ that I’ve highlighted before.   For unemployment related to layoffs and terminations,  the rules are still relatively straightforward....

This pandemic is exhausting. There’s obviously the personal: The “work from home” novelty has worn off and now comes to tough part of trying to find the boundaries of work and home.  Each day feels like it is 16 hours long (maybe because it is sometimes). Then there’s the professional: We’ve continued to see clients with issues that they never thought they’d have to face.  Layoffs, furloughs, reduced pay & hours, and even shutdowns.  Everything has happened in just in a few weeks, it’s hard to remember the issues that seemed important even a month ago. And there’s the laws, regulations and guidances: I cannot recall another time where the law has changed so dramatically and swiftly over such a short period of time.  For lawyers who like to think through issues, it’s been a massive undertaking. I’ve have multiple calls with my peers at Shipman & Goodwin every day working through issues such as whethe...

Just another day in employment law. Wednesday afternoon, the Department of Labor issued new regulations that further expand what was previously known about the paid leave provisions of the EPSLA and the EFMLEA. You can view the regulations here.    They go into effect immediately. The regulations are lengthy and we’ll have a full recap on the Shipman & Goodwin Coronavirus Resource page on Thursday. But a quick glance at the regulations shows that there are some changes. For example, the definition of a quarantine or isolation order has been expanded to include certain shelter-in-place rules that have been issued in states.  Thus, employees who cannot work for an employer because of such orders may be eligible for leave (if they are still employed and not merely on furlough).  However, the key will be showing that “but for” the order, the employee would be working.  (And employees who can telework despite such an order do not qualify.) Moreo...

Without any fanfare, the Connecticut Department of Labor has recently updated their separation packets, that include the so-called “Pink Slips”. Employers must start using this packet immediately on a going-forward basis. Previously, there was a category of “layoff” but the new form has eliminated that checkbox, and replaced it with “leave of absence”.  This is a welcome change because the “layoff” and “lack of work” always seemed a bit duplicative. There are also still categories for “lack of work” “voluntarily leaving” and “discharge/separation”, along with the catch-all “other” but the “leave of absence” stands out in this pandemic. Employers that are using furloughs should check off the “leave of absence” box. A furlough is, after all, basically a forced unpaid leave of absence by the employer. The employee is eligible for unemployment benefits and...

Before I talk about some developments, I wanted to share a story about David Lat – the founder of the Above The Law blog. He remains hospitalized in serious condition according to a report, still fighting COVID-19 and battling for his life.  (Saturday Update: He’s out of ICU!) He’s just 44 years old with a 2 year old son. I had one of my first encounters with the Above the Law blog way back in December 2007.  It was, frankly, exciting that my little employment law blog that I had just started a few months prior — got a shoutout.  My traffic spiked and I felt strangely validated.  I had other cites too over the years – and David couldn’t be more kind about it. Since that time, our paths have crossed multiple times. Five years ago, I had the opportunity to do a panel discussion with David on technology and the law. And he was as kind in person as you would hope. He had taken a train from NY to attend and shared his stories.  It...

Let’s face it: Trying to keep up with all the pandemic-related employment rules released by the state only to see them modified again and again, is challenging to say the least. And yet, the Safe Workplace Rules for Essential Employers have been modified yet again Tuesday night by the Department of Economic and Community Development, just two business days after they were already updated to ask masks as a requirement. The modifications don’t just fix a typo, but significantly change what had been put in place over the weekend by reducing the need for employees to wear a mask at all times. Effective immediately, in workplace settings where employees are working alone in segregated spaces (i.e. cubicles with walls, private offices, etc.), employees may remove their masks . But, workers need to wear masks or face coverings “from the time they enter the building until the time they arrive at their cubicle/work station and at any time they are leaving their work station an...