For last night's dinner, I decided to use the leftover meatballs from the prior night's spaghetti dinner to make meatball subs. The only problem? No hoagie rolls, which led to the following conversation with my wife:Me: I need to stop and get buns for dinner.Her: Ooh, will you toast them?Me: I'll toast your buns alright.Her: That's sexual harassment!Me: Take it up with HR.
MaryJo Delaney is suing her former employer after it demoted her from her management position following her return from a Covid-related layoff, for which she had volunteered so that she could stay at home with her 9-year-old son whose school was closed.
Today's nominee for the Worst Employer of 2020 is beyond description. NBC Bay Area provides the details:A Gilroy couple has been charged with human trafficking after forcing a man to work 15-hour shifts seven days a week for no pay at their liquor store and then locking him inside the store overnight, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office said Monday.
If the current trend continues and cases keep increasing, we will be forced to close restaurants, bars, and fitness centers. We will look at this one week from tomorrow.
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) November 11, 2020
During yesterday evening's statewide address, and amid dangerously rising COVID-19 infections and hospitalization, Governor Mike DeWine, announced the reissuing and restating of Ohio's mask mandate. The order now contains four specific rules for businesses to follow regarding mandatory masking.
You are literally making Covid worse if you are refusing to permit employees to work from home.November third 2020
Sitting anxiously on my bedroom floor
I've got other things to worry about
Like how I did on my test today
But rather than worrying about my grades
I'm afraid my rights are gonna get taken away
Can you "point" an employee under a no-fault attendance policy for a coronavirus-related absence? For example, an employee sick with COVID-19 or awaiting test results, quarantined because of an exposure, or at home because a child needs care?For the uninitiated, no-fault attendance policies operate by having workers accumulate "points" for missing work, arriving late, or other attendance-related issues; after the accumulation of a pre-determined number of "points," employees face discipline or even termination.
The NFL has fined the Las Vegas Raiders $500,000 and stripped them of a 2021 draft pick for "brazen and repeated violations" of the league's COVID-19 protocols. The violations include repeated incidents of players and coaches not wearing masks and permitting players to attend a charity event maskless while mingling with the crowd. The fines and penalty came after repeated warnings (and prior fines) by the NFL.If your business's COVID-19 rules are to have any meaning, you need to be prepared to stand behind them with discipline and even termination if necessary. These are important safety rules that are absolutely necessary to beat back this virus, especially as cases are spiking and we are hitting record numbers on a daily basis.
Are you tired of the endless din of vote counts and election news? Let's get back to the uplifting topic of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.OSHA recently announced a spate of COVID-related citations totaling $2,025,431 in fines.
As I type at 6:30 am on the morning after, we still don't know who won the presidency. There are 9 states and 87 electoral votes undecided, and few of those states (Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, and Pennsylvania) will ultimately determine the winner.
Yet, in the wee hours of the morning, Donald Trump took to a White House podium and stated his clear and unambiguous intent to go to the Supreme Court to stop the counting of outstanding votes, which he says is "a fraud on the American public."
As we round the corner to month eight of "living with COVID-19," I thought now is a good time to ask everyone, "How are you doing?"Me? I'm tired.
Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series. In the 8th inning of their clinching game 6, the Dodgers pulled third baseman Justin Turner from the game. No one knew why at the time. It was only after the game that it was announced that the team pulled Turner because he had tested positive for COVID-19. Why then was Turned allowed to join his team on the field (maskless no less) to celebrate their victory?!
SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management, describes itself as "the foremost expert, convener, and thought leader on issues impacting today's evolving workplaces." Physician, heal thyself!
Election Day is in seven days. By all predictions, this election will see a record number of voters. As long as Election Day remains a working day, employees will show up to work late, leave work early, or take long lunches, just so that they can vote.The results are. Thank you to the 244 of you took the time to answer my question: Would you boycott a business based on the candidate whom it (or, more accurately, its ownership) supports for President in this election?
The results:
Earlier this week, I posed what I thought was a simple question on the private Facebook page of my community's homeowners' association: given the current rise of COVID-19 cases, should we, as a community, rethink our trick-or-treating plans. It was intended to start a generative discussion about whether we can host public trick-or-treating safely, but it quickly devolved into insults and name-calling.The general theme of my pro-Halloween opponents was some combination of—if you don’t feel safe stay home in your basement; and we need to live our lives. People felt comfortable expressing this opinion even after others had commented about family members COVID-19 had killed.
Yesterday, the CDC made a key update to its COVID-19 guidance. It made a significant change to the definition of "close contact."
Someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period (individual exposures added together over a 24-hour period) starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to test specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated."
Over the weekend I got into an interesting discussion on Twitter with a couple of my favorite musicians, Brendon Benson and Caitlin Rose. Here's the question:
would you boycott an artist or actor based on the candidate for whom their voting, in this POTUS election?
— Brendan Benson (@brendanbensongs) October 18, 2020
I'd like to expand this topic further and ask, Would you boycott a business based on the candidate whom it (or more accurately, its owner) supports for president in this election?
I continue to shake my head at the callousness of employers during this pandemic. Consider this example from The Oregonian, which earns its spot as the 10th nominee for the Worst Employer of 2020. A finance manager at a used car dealership in Portland was fired by his boss during a staff meeting for questioning the company’s alleged cover-up of a coronavirus cluster, a lawsuit claims.
When you get the call, you better be prepared. This maxim holds true in business, in the law, and in life in general.Our favorite local wine bar has been hosting outdoor, socially distant concerts since shortly after the State of Ohio allowed it to reopen. Last Friday, their booked artist canceled last minute, which led to a 4:00 pm phone call for Norah to fill in.
I had to quickly work through the stress of a 14-year-old who did not know if she could pull off a three-hour solo gig on 90 minutes' notice. I reminded her that she's spent the last six months writing originals and playing covers in her bedroom, in the backyard, and on Zoom for the Rockin' the Suburbs "Friday Night Hootenanny." Thus, she made her setlist, we packed her gear into the car, and off we went.
An employee suffers an injury that prevents her from operating a motor vehicle. With no means of transportation to travel to and from her workplace, the employee calls off work, believing that her absences were excused. They weren't, and the employer fires her for excessive absences.
When an employee tests positive, an employer has certain reporting obligations. These obligations fall into two categories—reporting to OSHA and reporting to your state or local health agency under state law.OSHA
While OSHA has remained largely silent on mandates for businesses related to COVID-19, it has published specific guidance on when an employer must record and report COVID cases at work.
According to Deadspin, NFL players are terrified of COVID, but are afraid to speak up for fear of angering the NFL."I looked at my son. I looked at my family, and I just didn't think it was worth it," Jaguars player Lerentee McCray, a seven-year veteran, told me this summer after opting out. "I could catch it and bring it home to them. Or I can get it and even if it doesn't kill me, it could destroy my career long-term. I feel really weird not playing football right now, but can't. I can't risk doing something so dangerous and maybe hurting the people I love."
In the end, most players decided the money was worth the risk. So, they play.
Yet there's been a definite shift in that attitude over the past few months and even weeks, several told me in various interviews, as the virus spreads through locker rooms. Most requested anonymity for fear of angering NFL owners and the league office.
If you and I are connected on LinkedIn (and if we're not, please correct that mistake immediately), you may have noticed that my headline describes me as a the "Master of Workplace Schadenfreude."
I'm often asked, "Jon, what the heck does that mean?" Today, I have the answer.
Please watch this short video and then let's talk.
Entitled anti-masker says "I am discriminated against every single day in my county now... sometimes multiple times a day." GOOD pic.twitter.com/WmCWlAaDqD
— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) October 6, 2020
This woman claims discrimination because she refuses to wear a mask in public.
Monday night saw President Donald Trump dramatically return to the White House after his three-day stay at Walter Reed Medical Center for COVID-19. We saw Marine One land on the White House lawn, President Trump emerge and walk up the stairs to the White House, remove his mask for a photo op, enter his home with his mask still in his pocket, reemerge for a reshoot, and again enter the White House maskless.
Prada v. Trifecta Productions, filed a few weeks ago in federal court in Ann Arbor, Michigan, asks whether an employer can legally fire an employee with COVID-19 based on the perception that the employee's out-of-work activities placed the business at risk.The facts are fairly simple. Nicolas Prada, worked as a waiter and assistant manager at Tomukun Noodle Bar. On June 24, 2020, he began experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and stayed home from work. He tested positive three days later. After 14 days of isolation, Prada texted his employer about being medically cleared to return to work.
Ninety percent of the [White House] complex most certainly learned about it in the news, as has been the case ever since. There are reports that COVID is spreading like wildfire through the White House. There are hundreds and hundreds of people who work on-complex, some who have families with high-risk family members. Since this whole thing started, not one email has gone out to tell employees what to do or what's going on.
With the shocking news that Donald and Melenia Trump have tested positive for COVID-19 (along with Hope Hicks, one of Trump's top advisors and key inner-circle members), I thought it is a good time to review the CDC's rules for quarantine (how long you must stay away from others when you've been exposed to someone with Covid) and isolation (how you must stay away from others when you have Covid).
Did you watch the Presidential Debate Tuesday night? Do you think it showcased the best of America? If you do, I think you were tuned to the wrong channel. In fact, I'd argue that it was the low point of American presidential campaign history, if not all of Amerian presidential history.
Wage and hour compliance is complicated enough for employers. Layer a pandemic on top of wage and hour compliance, and you have an absolute nightmare for companies.Consider, for example, hazard pay.
The human resources manager for a New Hampshire company is suing her former employer after she sent an email about COVID-19 to employees and required two employees to stay home for one week after going on vacations to China and Malaysia. 
Tomorrow night, a mere 16 miles from my home, President Trump and Vice President Biden will step in front of the cameras to make their respective cases to America in the first of three debates. Eight years ago, some of my blogging friends and I got together to propose the debate questions we'd ask each of the candidates if we had the power to do so. Given the current state of our Republic and what's at stake when we vote, we thought it would be a good idea to revisit this collective idea and do it again. 
This year has been challenging for everyone. COVID-19 has forced everyone to be innovative with everything. Case in point, high school theater. Tonight and tomorrow Norah will make her theater debut in Lake Ridge Academy's performance of The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon. Norah is playing multiple roles, including what I'm told is a hilarious Crab Person and Little Red (I believe it's red as in the color of her MAGA hat, and not red as in the color of her hood).
Let's talk about comorbidities. A comorbidity is the simultaneous presence of two chronic diseases or conditions in a patient. In the case of COVID-19, certain comorbidities are known to increase one's risk for a more severe illness.
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced a proposed rule amending its regulations on how to determine whether a worker is an employee covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act or an independent contractor not covered by the FLSA. This proposed rule is significant because the FLSA lacks clear guidance on these important definitions, which has left employers struggling, scrambling, and risk-taking to properly classify workers for purposes of paying overtime and other wage/hour obligations.
The EEOC has sued an Arkansas Kroger after it fired two of its employees for allegedly objecting to its new dress code that required employees to wear an apron that contained rainbow-colored heart insignia. 
Last Friday, the CDC yet again updated its guidance for COVID-19 testing. If you're keeping count, this is the CDC's fifth set of testing rules.Due to the significance of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission, this guidance further reinforces the need to test asymptomatic persons, including close contacts of a person with documented SARS-CoV-2 infection.
In Kirilenko-Ison v. Board of Education of Danville Independent Schools, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals held that an employee who engages in advocacy with their employee regarding the rights of a disabled third-party engages in activity that the ADA protects from retaliation. 
There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has been tough on employees. A recent report published by Policy Matters Ohio illustrates just how tough it's really been.Men and women are about equally likely to be able to work from home, but the burden of new unpaid care work falls especially heavily on women.… Added child-caregiving responsibilities are competing with women’s paid work and in some cases forcing women out of the labor force altogether, with consequences for their careers that could be permanent. Women may never recover the career losses they face to support their families’ child care needs through the crisis. The pay gap with men, which has been narrowing over recent decades, could be wrenched open once more for years to come.
What is an employer to do?
* Photo by Leonard Beck on Unsplash
In County of Butler v. Wolf, Judge William S. Stickman IV of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (a recent appointee of President Trump) held that state-imposed shutdown orders that closed businesses, required people to stay home, and placed limits on public gatherings—all aimed at stopping the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic—were "well-intentioned" but unconstitutional.
Here's what the DOL did, and did not, change in response to the court's order, and why.
Deborah Kofler worked for Sayde Steeves Cleaning Service as a residential and commercial cleaner. Beginning on April 1, Kofler requested paid leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act to care for her two minor children who were at home beacause of COVID-19 related school closures. One week late Sayde terminated her employment.
It's a world of sickness
A world of tears
It's a world of death
And a world of fears
There's so much that we share
That it's time we're aware
It's corona after all
Colleen and I celebrated our 17th anniversary. Plan A was to import Maine lobsters, smoke them on my grill, and enjoy them with a great bottle of Italian wine I had picked up our our favorite wine shop. That plan fell apart, however, when I learned that FedEx won't guarantee Saturday delivery to my home.
So we moved to Plan B. We cautiously and nervously decided to brave a restaurant for an outdoor meal.
Five Erie County General Health District employees are now out of a job after allegedly attending a pool party thrown by a worker, who was supposed to be quarantined.
"I am not going to tolerate it as a health commissioner and the board isn't going to tolerate it as our appointing authority," said Erie County Health Director Peter Schade. "How can we expect folks to follow an order when our own staff didn’t do it?"
Schade said the incident happened in early July after three workers were exposed to COVID-19 and placed on work quarantine orders.
Yesterday, in Lunsford v. Sterilite of Ohio, the Ohio Supreme Court answered this question in the negative.
The DOL recently published a new Field Assistance Bulletin explaining the obligation of employers to pay for non-exempt employees' "working time" and the obligation of those employees to track this time. It's not a change in the law, but instead a great reminder of the obligations the FLSA imposes on employers and employees.
