Rojgar Job News

You can’t escape the panic spreading through mass and social media regarding the 2020 Wuhan Novel Coronavirus, a virus that has resulted in fatalities in China and infected thousands worldwide. Symptoms mimic that of influenza (fever, cough), but can include difficulty breathing, pneumonia, kidney failure, and death in severe cases. Despite the panic, there are only a handful of confirmed cases in the U.S., but this has done little to quell paranoia. With fear of the bug’s spread, many employers are bracing themselves the possibility of employee absences, either due to illness or fear of contagion in congested workplaces. Employers and human resources professionals can immunize themselves against some risk by implementing steps in advance. Familiarize yourself with state and local paid sick leave laws. Many U.S. states and municipalities now require that employers provide paid time off to employees to address their own illnesses or that of their family members. If you have...

Here are some more participant questions from our Coronavirus webinar earlier this week. What do we do if one of our employees triggers self-isolation by going to a high-risk area despite FCO advice?  Can we stop him going? However attractive might be the prospect of Venice without the crowds, it must be unlikely that someone aware of the risk would go there (or any other high-risk area) without absolutely needing to. You cannot physically prevent your employee from going on holiday to a high-risk area, (assuming of course that he can still get there at all!). You can point him to the FCO website and make it clear that in these very unusual circumstances you would regard it as a breach of a reasonable management instruction if he goes nonetheless. You can and should tell him that if he does and is either then self-isolated or actually ill, no company sick pay will be paid. More constructively, given the disruption and possible costs of temporary cover, you might consider a contribu...

The big-picture information about Coronavirus being issued by the Government at present is all well and good, but it does not (in fairness, cannot) address the multitude of little spin-off questions arising for employers every day. We held a webinar on this earlier this week, with members of our Employment, Commercial, Data and Health & Safety teams reflecting the sheer breath of the likely impact of Covid-19 on working society. A large number of questions were submitted through the webinar portal-thingy – in the first of a series, here are some of them and our suggested responses. However, Boris’ speech yesterday reminds us that this is not just a business problem but also a human one, and on a potentially colossal scale. The law was not designed for these unprecedented times and so it will occasionally struggle to provide a convincing answer. Let us do what we can. Are you allowed to disclose employees’ medical information to protect others, for example, by telli...

Although the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), commonly referred to as the “coronavirus,” remains a developing situation, it has begun affecting the US in major ways.  With cases now reported throughout the US, every organization should have a plan of action in place concerning the coronavirus.  Although every business faces unique considerations, a cross-disciplinary team of Squire Patton Boggs attorneys have collaborated to prepare guidance – available here – for organizations to consider when addressing coronavirus-related employment, customer service, and other issues.

Since early in the pandemic, the EEOC has been maintaining a Technical Assistance Questions and Answers page, which it updates from time to time. As employers’ attention turns to life after COVID-19 and planning for our return to the workplace, on April 17, the EEOC updated its COVID-19 pandemic informal guidance to address the challenges employers will face in the return-to-work transition. Reasonable Accommodations With respect to the reasonable accommodation process, the EEOC clarified that employers may provide temporary accommodations for disabilities if, due to pandemic conditions, the employer and employee lack the time to engage in a full interactive process, or if accommodation needs are expected to change as government-imposed restrictions are lifted. The EEOC approved of employers providing short-term accommodations with end-dates that evolve based on public health directives, or even providing accommodations on a “trial basis, with an end date, while awaiting rec...

So now that the slow movement back to workplaces has started, the next hot question will be this: “If I don’t want to go back in because I fear infection if I do, can my employer make me?” The short and absolutely definitively answer to this is no.  And yes. It cannot compel you to return but subject to certain conditions (below) you cannot then compel it either to keep paying you or to continue your employment. Some of our clients’ employees have received stark emails in shouty capitals this week telling them categorically not to return to work and that if they don’t, their employer has to keep paying them regardless.  Those emails do not appear to be claimed by any particular organisation, which is both telling and quite sensible.  Telling, because if you thought that was a valid position on behalf of the working men and women of Britain, you would surely put your name to it.  Sensible, since not doing so denies employers the ability t...

As California employers prepare for the gradual re-opening of business, they must now take into consideration Governor Gavin Newsom’s Executive Order N-62-20 executed on May 6, 2020, making any COVID-19 infection diagnosed within two weeks of an individual working outside of their home presumptively work-related. This has the effect for employers of reversing the burden of proof in workers’ compensation cases. Instead of the burden belonging to the worker to establish that they contracted COVID-19 on the job, this Order places the burden squarely on the shoulders of the employer to prove that the worker’s infection is not work-related. Importantly, however, the presumption does not apply if the employee worked from home. By its terms, the order will only apply to injuries which occur between March 19 and July 6, 2020. Covered Employees Qualified employees must either (1) test positive for COVID-19 within 14 days after performing work; or (2) be diagnosed with COVID-19...