Coronavirus Update 4-30-2020: The last and absolutely final (I hope) word on masks in Ohio businesses
Next Saturday (May 9) will mark the (lucky) 13th anniversary of the Ohio Employer Law Blog (NKA the Coronavirus Law Blog). Never did I eve...
Coronavirus Update 4-29-2020 number 2: Ohio flips (again) on mandatory masks for employees
By Jon Hyman
Adding to the profound confusion on the mask requirements for reopening businesses, Ohio appears to have changed its mind for the third time...
Coronavirus Update 4-29-2020: Governor’s DeWine’s explanation for why masks are only “recommended” falls woefully short
By Jon Hyman
I tuned in yesterday to Governor DeWine’s 2 pm briefing to learn why Ohio had changed its stance on face masks and coverings from “mandat...
Coronavirus Update 4-28-2020 number 2: Ohio’s reopening plan 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 masks for all employees
By Jon Hyman
“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” – Ferris Bueller This morning, I wr...
Coronavirus Update 4-28-2020: Ohio’s reopening plan includes 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 masks for all employees
By Jon Hyman
Yesterday, Governor DeWine announced his plan to “responsibly” reopen Ohio , which will happen in phases. May 1: Healthcare procedures t...
Coronavirus Update 4-27-2020: Bringing your employees back to work when unemployment pays them more than you do
By Jon Hyman
At 2 pm today, Governor DeWine will announce his plan for restarting Ohio’s economy (currently expected to begin on May 2). One huge issue...
Coronavirus update 4-24-2020: A coronavirus DOL settlement, and listen to me discuss empoyers’ preparations for reopening our economy
By Jon Hyman
It did not take long for the Department of Labor to announce its first-ever settlement of a claimed violation of the Families First Cor...
Coronavirus update 4-23-2020: Your employees walk out in protest over coronavirus-related working conditions. Now what?
By Jon Hyman
This week, Amazon workers are protesting what they view as unsafe working conditions. 300 workers from 50 facilities will skip their sch...
Coronavirus update 4-22-2020: I was (mostly) correct on the intersection between employer-provided paid leave and leave under the FFCRA
By Jon Hyman
Last week I took a stab at making sense of the messy and unclear rules surrounding the substitution of employer-provided leave (which, fo...
Coronavirus update 4-21-2020: Can and should employers require antibody testing as a return-to-work condition?
By Jon Hyman
We all want to get back to work as safely and as quickly as possible. One thing that would allow us to do this with confidence is widesp...
Coronavirus update 4-20-2020: What a business operating in the time of coronavirus CANNOT look like
By Jon Hyman
On Friday I shared my thoughts on the measures businesses absolutely must take as a condition to reopening when governors restart their ...
Coronavirus update 4-17-2020: Preparing your workplace for a restarted economy … plus a podcast and some music
By Jon Hyman
President Trump has been talking for weeks about restarting the economy and getting employees back to work. Last night he unveiled his thr...
Coronavirus update 4-16-2020: FBI warns companies about employees faking coronavirus diagnoses
By Jon Hyman
Given the amount of time I spend on this blog pointing out the awful things that employers do to their employees, I thought I’d flip the ...
Coronavirus Update 4-15-2020: Declaring professional wrestling an essential business demeans the sacrifices all essential workers are making
By Jon Hyman
Have you taken the “Florida Man challenge”? It’s a hoot. You type “Florida man” along with your birthdate to discover the head-scratching ...
Coronavirus Update 4-14-2020: Telecommuting as a reasonable accommodation
By Jon Hyman
Telecommuting has become the coronavirus norm. The CDC recommends that employees who can work from home do so, and state Stay at Home orde...
Coronavirus Update 4-13-2020: Trying to make sense of the substitution of employer-provided leave for EPSL and EFMLA under the FFCRA
By Jon Hyman
One of the more confounding sets of rules under the FFCRA is when employers can require employees to substitute an employer’s own provided...
Coronavirus Update 4-10-2020: The top 5 things I’m doing besides working
By Jon Hyman
How are you filling your non-working time? We used to fill our time running our kids all over the place for various lessons, rehearsals, a...
Coronavirus Update 4-9-2020: CDC issues new guidelines for the return of essential workers to work after a coronavirus exposure
By Jon Hyman
Last night, the Center for Disease Control issued new guidelines for when an essential employer should permit a critical infrastructure e...
Coronavirus Update 4-8-2020: Employers, if you are requiring your employees to wait in line for a coronavirus fever check, please pay them for waiting
By Jon Hyman
Bloomberg Law asks whether employers are “responsible for paying workers for the time it takes to record their body temperatures before e...
Coronavirus Update 4-7-2020 number 2: FFCRA loopholes (and another Zoominar)
By Jon Hyman
Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) have sent a scathing letter to Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia c...
Coronavirus Update 4-7-2020: What does OSHA have to say about coronavirus for employers?
By Jon Hyman
OSHA, the federal agency responsible for health and safety, has been all over the coronavirus pandemic, providing a wealth of resources f...
Coronavirus Update 4-6-2020 number 2: A 4th set of FAQs from the DOL on the FFCRA (and another Zoominar)
By Jon Hyman
If you thought the DOL was done publishing FAQs on the paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave provisions of the Families Fi...
Coronavirus Update 4-6-2020: We CARES about unemployment
By Jon Hyman
The past two weeks have seen a record 10 million new unemployment claims . This number does not even include many of the millions more who...
Coronavirus Update 4-3-2020: I killed the Easter Bunny
By Jon Hyman
My family has been self-quarantined for the past three weeks. We did so before Ohio ordered people to stay at home, and before anyone star...
Coronavirus Update 4-2-2020: The DOL’s FFCRA regulations contain some BIG changes (and other Zoominar)
By Jon Hyman
Yesterday afternoon, the Department of Labor published its long-awaited (as in, for the past two weeks) regulations to the paid family leave...
Coronavirus Update 4-1-2020 number 2: DOL’s FFCRA regulations are out!
By Jon Hyman
The Department of Labor's FFCRA regulations are out. And they are significant. If you thought you understood this Act, you don't...
Coronavirus Update 4-1-2020: The mechanics of the tax credit for paid family and sick leave under the FFCRA
By Jon Hyman
One of the questions I have received the most since the passage of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act is how employers claim the...
Coronavirus Update 3-31-2020: Employers, PLEASE don’t take your employees’ stimulus checks (plus video of yesterday’s Zoominar)
By Jon Hyman
One employer is an anomaly, two is a trend that must be stopped. Last week, I nominated for the Worst Employer of 2020 an unnamed natio...
Coronavirus Update 3-30-2020: DOL FAQs on the FFCRA, the threequel (and a Zoominar reminder) #coronavirus
By Jon Hyman
A quick reminder that I’ll be live on Zoom today from 1 - 2 pm ET discussing all things Coronavirus, including the DOL’s most recent addit...
Coronavirus Update 3-27-2020 number 2: More answers from the DOL on the FFCRA, and another Zoominar
By Jon Hyman
Late yesterday, the DOL published a second round of FAQs (numbers 15-37) answering more questions on the operation of paid family and sic...
Coronavirus Update 3-27-2020: How are we feeling? #CoronavirusCoping
By Jon Hyman
After a week of self-imposed quarantine in my home, and a week of mandatory sheltering in place by the State, now is as good a time as any...
Coronavirus Update 3-26-2020 number 2: Is the DOL’s FFCRA notice correct as published?
By Jon Hyman
The speed at which the coronavirus news cycle moves is dizzying. Is it possible that the DOL’s FFCRA Employee Rights Poster is correct as ...
Coronavirus Update 3-26-2020: A coronavirus Q&A and the DOL’s FFCRA notice (with a big ol’ typo)
By Jon Hyman
Yesterday I held my first Zoominar. (Is this an actual word, or did I just make it up?) I opened up my Zoom room for the first 100 people to...
Coronavirus Update 3-25-2020 number 2: Someone needs to tell the DOL that 15 days from March 18 is April 2, NOT April 1
By Jon Hyman
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act has an effective no later than 15 days after President Trump signed it. He signed in late in the...
Coronavirus Update 3-25-2020: The 5th nominee for the “worst employer of 2020” is … the coronavirus stimulus snatcher
By Jon Hyman
Can we just close the poll now and announce today’s nominee the winner? If anyone can verify the identity of this employer I’d love to kno...
Coronavirus Update 3-24-2020 (number 2): I’ll be chatting all things coronavirus tomorrow, Mar. 25, from 12 - 1 ET
By Jon Hyman
There are so many questions about all things coronavirus and workplace, I thought I’d try something new for all of my valued readers. Tomo...
Coronavirus Update 3-24-2020: Layoffs, furloughs, and group health insurance
By Jon Hyman
The question I’ve received the most in the past week is the difference between a layoff and a furlough. Both are reductions in force cause...
Coronavirus Update 3-23-2020: Frequently Asked Questions about Ohio’s “Stay at Home” Order
By Jon Hyman
Effective Monday, March 23, 2020, at 11:59 pm, and continuing through at least April 6, the State of Ohio, via an order of Dr. Amy Acton, ...
Coronavirus Update 3-21-2020: Treasury, IRS and Labor announce plan to implement Coronavirus-related paid leave for workers and tax credits for businesses
By Jon Hyman
The Department of Treasury, the Department of Labor, and the IRS announced impending regulations that will help covered businesses navigat...
Coronavirus Update 3-20-2020: How are you feeding your soul?
By Jon Hyman
What did you do to feed your soul this week? I’ve been sheltered at home with my family. We’ve decided to self-quarantine because our 11-yea...
Coronavirus Update 3-19-2020: The Families First Coronavirus Response Act is law
By Jon Hyman
Five days. That’s all it took for both parties in both houses of Congress to work together, along with the White House and President Tru...
BREAKING NEWS: Senate passes Families First Coronavirus Response Act
By Jon Hyman
This afternoon , by a margin of 90 - 8, the Senate passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act . It will now go to President Trump f...
Coronavirus Update 3-18-2020: “Gag and vote for it anyway,” and an EEOC update
By Jon Hyman
It looks like the Families First Coronavirus Response Act is one step closer to becoming law … just not quite yet. During a lunch meet...
Coronavirus Update 3-17-2020: House guts the Families First Coronavirus Response Act before sending it to the Senate
By Jon Hyman
For the time being, I have rebranded the Ohio Employer Law Blog as the Coronavirus Law Blog . I’ll be using this space to offer daily upd...
Answering the six questions I’ve received most about the Families First Coronavirus Response Act
By Jon Hyman
In the past 48 hours, I’ve received a lot of emails and other correspondence asking questions about the Families First Coronavirus Respo...
BREAKING: House passes broad coronavirus stimulus and relief package, including paid sick and family leave
By Jon Hyman
It’s been 12 days since I asked if coronavirus the thing that will finally make paid family and sick leave a national reality . Twelve day...
WIRTW #591 (the “new (ab)normal” edition)
By Jon Hyman
This has been one strange and disorienting week. I haven’t felt this disjointed since 9/11. No basketball ( pro or college ). No hock...
A thank you and a mission statement
By Jon Hyman
Tomorrow, I was to receive my award from the Cleveland-area chapter of the National Association of Social Workers as its Public Citizen o...
6th Circuit gives employers relief on the evidence employees must present to prove off-the-clock work
By Jon Hyman
The difficulty in defending certain wage-and-hour cases is that employers are often asked to prove a negative. “I worked __ number of hour...
Coronavirus resource update 🦠😷
By Jon Hyman
As Ohio recorded its first three official coronavirus cases, I thought now is as good a time as any to share some COVID-19 resources I recen...
Is an employee entitled to FMLA leave to care for the children of a family member with coronavirus?
By Jon Hyman
Among other qualifying reasons, the FMLA allows an eligible employee to take 12 weeks of annual unpaid leave to care for a family member w...
WIRTW #590 (the “win some, lose some” edition)
By Jon Hyman
Life is often about competition. For example, I litigate for a living. Trials have winners and losers. We also compete for jobs, for college...
Accidents will happen: “Not every mistake amounts to actionable employment discrimination”
By Jon Hyman
Mistakes happen. Including in the context of employment decisions. But not every mistake amounts to actionable employment discrimination....
What “Sexy Vixen Vinyl” teaches us about porn at work
By Jon Hyman
If you’re Fox News reporter Brit Hume, you have a lot of explaining to do. Yesterday, the venerable journalist carelessly tweeted out his in...
Can an employer require an employee with a serious health condition to take FMLA leave?
By Jon Hyman
Yesterday, in response to my post about coronavirus and paid sick leave , a commenter on LinkedIn asked whether an employer can force a s...
Is coronavirus the thing that will finally make paid sick a national reality?
By Jon Hyman
As of this morning, there are 88 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States, with two deaths. According to the CDC , one of the b...
WIRTW #589 (the “Coronavirus” edition)
By Jon Hyman
Does the Coronavirus freak you out? Do you think it’s the beginning of the end for the human race, way over-hyped by the media, or somewhe...
PLEASE, I’m freaking begging you, DO NOT use social media to determine applicants’ race and gender
By Jon Hyman
Almost as long as social media has existed, employers have searched social media to dig up dirt on prospective employees. There is nothing...
Meet the new boss, same as the old, old boss—NLRB issues long-awaited final rule on “joint employment”
By Jon Hyman
Yesterday, the NLRB announced its long-awaited final rule governing joint-employer status under the National Labor Relations Act. The ru...