With the Covid-19 National and Public Health Emergencies now concluded, the EEOC just published what should be its final updates to its COVID-19 technical assistance, What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws.
Tuesday, May 16, 2023
EEOC issues its final updates to its Covid-19 guidance
With the Covid-19 National and Public Health Emergencies now concluded, the EEOC just published what should be its final updates to its COVID-19 technical assistance, What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Thursday, March 16, 2023
6th Circuit confirms that private employers can do private employer things
Four employees of the J.M. Smucker Company sought religious exemptions from the company's Covid vaccine mandate. When the company refused, they sued, claiming that the mandate infringed on their First Amendment religious liberties.
The 6th Circuit easily concluded that the 1st Amendment does not apply to J.M. Smucker or limits its power to regulate its workplace as it is a private company, not a federal, state, or local government.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Thursday, December 15, 2022
Reasonable accommodations are for actual disabilities, not unhinged conspiracies
If I've learned one thing from my 25+ years of practicing law it's that when a court describes your arguments as a "rambling and hyperbolic tirade," your goose is cooked.
This is the story of Meltzer v. The Trial Court of the Commonwealth, by John Bello, Administrator.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Thursday, November 10, 2022
Muckenfuss makes a mask fuss
Michael Muckenfuss worked in maintenance at a Tyson Fresh Meats facility. When the Covid-19 pandemic began, the town's mayor instituted an executive order mandating the wearing of masks, which Tyson enforced inside the workplace. Muckenfuss presented Tyson with a note from his health care provider requesting that he wear a cloth mask with a filter instead of a surgical mask as a reasonable accommodation for his asthma. Tyson agreed to the accommodation. Muckenfuss later sued, however, claiming that Tyson kept the mask mandate in place, along with his filtered mask, after the Covid executive order expired.
This statute was aimed to prohibit the introduction of a device "into" the body. Wearing a mask on one's face isn't that.… Mr. Muckenfuss invites an interpretation that would render this statute absurd.… [H]is interpretation would suddenly prohibit all sorts of sensible mandates by employers. No longer could a company require a bleeding employee from wearing a bandage or band-aid "against" his wound. No longer could a company require an employee to wear a protective glove, or work boots, or goggles, or many types of personal protective equipment because they were likewise designed to be used "against" the body.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Tuesday, August 16, 2022
The CDC is the tail wagging the public’s dog
Last week the CDC updated its Covid isolation guidelines. The agency says it's "to help the public better protect themselves and understand their risk."
Most importantly, there is no longer any distinction between those who are fully vaccinated and those who are unvaccinated against the virus. Instead, the CDC says anyone can end isolation after five days if asymptomatic or if fever-free for 24 hours and other symptoms are improving. Thereafter, one should mask around others either through day 10 or sooner after two sequential negative tests 48 hours apart.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Thursday, June 30, 2022
Court dismisses employees’ race discrimination claims against Whole Foods based on prohibition of BLM masks
A group of Black and non-Black Whole Foods employees claimed that their employer unlawfully discriminated against them because of their race and their association with people because of their race based on their employer's prohibition of the wearing of "Black Lives Matter" face masks starting in June 2020 following the death of George Floyd.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Monday, April 25, 2022
Mask mandates might be gone, but maskual harassment isn’t
Workplaces, state and local governments, and the CDC have relegated mask mandates to the dustbin of Covid history. But just because people are no longer required to wear masks anywhere doesn't mean that some people aren't choosing to do so on their own. The end of mask mandates, however, has not ended the culture wars that have surrounded mask for the past two-plus years.
According to a recent poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 56% of Americans still favor mask mandates on planes, trains, and public transportation, 49% for workers who interact with the public in restaurants and other places, and also 49% for crowded public events. (My own poll on LinkedIn revealed a smaller 36% still in favor of mask mandates on planes and public transportation.)For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Thursday, March 17, 2022
Just because “caregiver” isn’t a protected class doesn’t mean it isn’t sometimes illegal to discriminate against them
No matter how many times you read our federal workplace anti-discrimination laws, you won't find the word "caregiver" among the litany of protected classes. Yet, it has been clear since the earliest days of this blog that in the proper circumstances "caregiver discrimination" is illegal.
Earlier this week the EEOC updated its Covid-19 guidance to discuss these caregiver-related issues.
Caregiver discrimination violates the laws enforced by the EEOC if it is based on an applicant’s or employee’s sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, or gender identity), race, national origin, disability, age (40 or older), or another characteristic covered by federal employment discrimination laws. Caregiver discrimination also is unlawful if it is based on the caregiver’s association with an individual with a disability, or on the race, ethnicity, or other protected characteristic of the individual receiving care.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Thursday, March 3, 2022
Brewery CEO out after backlash to controversial vaccine comments
Vaccine mandates are a crime against humanity.
If you are not speaking out against them, you are a conspirator.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Wednesday, March 2, 2022
I’m not quite ready to declare the pandemic over, but I am ready to stop writing about it every single day
Nearly two years ago, I re-branded the Ohio Employer Law Blog as the Coronavirus Law Blog. It was a bit of marketing combined with the realization that Covid would be all that mattered to employers, at least in the short term.
That "short term" will turn two years old in nine days.
Today, however, I am officially re-re-branding the blog back to the Ohio Employer Law Blog.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Monday, February 28, 2022
Coronavirus Update 2-28-22: CDC eliminates mask guidance for 70% of Americans
The CDC has issued new mask guidance based on the level of Covid-19 in a specific county.
- In counties with a low level of Covid (green) — individuals are permitted to remove masks.
- In counties with a medium level of Covid (yellow) — individuals who are at high risk for severe illness are recommended to talk to their healthcare provider about whether they need to wear a mask and take other safety precautions.
- In counties with a high level of Covid (red) — individuals are recommended to wear a mask indoors in public.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Thursday, February 24, 2022
I hate “Tattleware”
I thought I had my next Worst Employer nominee. News broke yesterday of the mass exodus of employees from real estate company CoStar after allegations came to light of the company spying on work-from-home employees through the cameras on the company-issued laptops. I even had the post written.
But in further researching the issue I came across this story that ran yesterday on the Today Show: 'Tattleware': How your boss might be tracking your remote activity.
Its use skyrocketed as most companies switched to a work-from-home model during the Covid-19 pandemic.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Monday, February 21, 2022
This dissenting opinion in the United Airlines vaccine-mandate case is 58 pages of pure judicial rage
It's been a little over three months since a federal district court in Forth Worth, Texas, denied a preliminary injunction to a group of unvaccinated employees of United Airlines challenging its vaccine mandate. The court so ruled because the employees, whom United had placed on an unpaid leave of absence, had a viable claim for money damages and with that adequate legal remedy couldn't simultaneously seek an equitable remedy.
It's been a little over two months since a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals declined to issue an injunction pending the appeal of that district court decision.
Late last week, however, a different three-judge panel of that same appellate court concluded that the employees had established irreparable harm to support their claim for injunctive relief and sent the case back to the district court to reconsider its prior ruling in light of that holding.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Tuesday, February 1, 2022
Coronavirus Update 2-1-22: I just gave my kids the worst business trip souvenir ever
In the before times, when I actually traveled for business, I'd always try to come home with a souvenir for the kids. A t-shirt, a stuffed animal, something small, but at least something so they knew I was thinking about them when I was gone.
Thankfully, our Covid experience was mild and we all survived with varying degrees of minor symptoms along with five days of isolation.
You can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify (yes, we're still there, even though Joe Rogan spews dangerous garbage), Google Podcasts, the old-fashioned web browser, and wherever you get your podcasts.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Monday, January 31, 2022
Coronavirus Update 1-31-22: Employees should not be choosing between their jobs and working while ill
I return to the office today after a one-week Covid-inducted work-from-home hiatus. I'm fortunate that as a professional I have the ability and flexibility to work from home when needed. Many too many employees, however, do not have that luxury.
Consider, for example, this report from Business Insider, that 63 percent of Red Lobster employees came to work while sick with Covid-19, either because they lacked paid sick leave or because they couldn't find anyone to cover their shifts.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Thursday, January 27, 2022
Coronavirus Update 1-27-22: Whole Foods 1 – Maskhole 0 😷
You have every right to believe that masks are a form of government control or a satanic tool. You're very wrong, but you are free to believe what you want to believe.
What you aren't free to do, however, is to act on those beliefs when they run counter to the rules of the employer for which you work or the business you want to enter.
Case in point: Manning v. Whole Foods Market Group.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Wednesday, January 26, 2022
Coronavirus Update 1-26-22: OSHA doesn’t need an ETS to go after your business’s Covid-safety deficiencies
With the Supreme Court effectively killing OSHA Covid-19 vax-or-test Emergency Temporary Standard, and OSHA now officially withdrawing it, employers might think that they are beyond the reach of OSHA for Covid safety-related issues. If you are one of those employers that thinks this way, you are very mistaken.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Monday, January 24, 2022
Coronavirus Update 1-24-22: I’m a Covid statistic
It was a calculated risk. I've been so careful for the past 22 months. We don't socialize outside of a very small bubble. We don't eat in restaurants or go to bars unless we can be outside. We've given up concerts and traveling. I wear my KN95 mask everywhere.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Wednesday, January 19, 2022
Accountability always starts at the top
How do you respond to an employee who states that the Covid-19 vaccine is a plot by "the Jews" to exterminate people? Does your answer change if the employee in question is the company's founder?
The scenario recently played out at Entrata, a Utah technology company. David Bateman, Entrata's founder, sent an email to multiple parties, including various Utah tech leaders. Bateman's email started with the subject line, "Genocide." It went downhill from there.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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Thursday, January 13, 2022
BREAKING NEWS: SCOTUS dumps OSHA vax-or-test emergency temporary standard
The Supreme Court has issued its opinion in the appeal of the 6th Circuit's decision that vacated the 5th Circuit's stay of OSHA's vaccine-or-test emergency temporary standard for employers with 100 or more employees.
In a 6-3 decision, strictly down ideological lines, the Court reinstituted the stay, blocking the ETS from taking effect.
For more information, contact Jon at (440) 695-8044 or JHyman@Wickenslaw.com.
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