The 6th nominee for the “Worst Employer of 2021” is … the deportation threatener

Full disclosure — I love Tate's Bake Shop's gluten free cookies. Prior to gluten free Oreos hitting supermarket shelves (I dare you to tell them apart from their full-glutened sibling), I bought Tate's gluten free chocolate chip cookies all of the time. The allegations raised by this story, however, gives me great pause in ever buying their cookies again. 

It seems that Tate's is in the middle of a union organizing campaign and the baker is alleged to have threatened with deportation undocumented workers who support the union.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Today brings BIG changes for my career and me. It's my first day of work at Wickens Herzer Panza after relocating my practice and joining its Board of Directors, Litigation Department, and Employment & Labor practice team (which I'll help guide).

I am beyond excited for the opportunity and platform my new home offers my practice, my clients, and me. Stay tuned for some exciting ideas about how I can better help your business proactively solve your workforce problems.

Coronavirus Update 3-12-2021: What does the American Rescue Plan mean for employers?

Yesterday, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, aka the $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill. It's the most significant economic relief bill we've seen in decades. Here are four key provisions to which employers should be paying attention.

Coronavirus Update 3-11-2021: Happy 1st Birthday COVID-19 Pandemic

It's been exactly one year since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Tomorrow will mark the one-year anniversary of when I started working from home. (It will also mark another significant milestone, but more on that on Monday.) Wednesday is one year from the date I temporarily rebranded the Ohio Employer Law Blog as the Coronavirus Law Blog. I look forward to ending that branding soon.

Coronavirus Update 3-10-2021: John Oliver on unemployment

One of the lasting lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic is that our state unemployment systems are old and broken, and desperately need to be modernized and fixed. While the $1.9 trillion Covid relief package that President Biden is expected to imminently sign provides for a $300 federal unemployment bonus for a few months, that is the tiniest of bandaids on this very large problem. 

Thankfully, we have John Oliver to offer his commentary on this important issue.

Coronavirus Update 3-9-2021: CDC says fully vaccinated people can safely visit fully vaccinated Grandma (but still have to keep wearing masks at work)

Yesterday, the CDC issued its long-awaited guidance on how fully vaccinated people can safely visit others.

Here's who and how the CDC says can fully vaccinated people can safely visit:

• Other fully vaccinated people indoors without wearing masks or staying 6 feet apart; and
• Unvaccinated people from one other household indoors without wearing masks or staying 6 feet apart if everyone in the other household is at low risk for severe disease.

Coronavirus Update 3-8-2021: Local judge in hot water over “China Virus” comments

Rule number one of this blog has always been, "Don't criticize judges whom you might appear in front of." Rules, however, are made to be broken, and some issues are just too important to ignore.

Judge John O’Donnell of the Lake County Court of Common Pleas is in hot water over comments he made in this month's edition of his county bar association's newsletter. In an article he wrote about managing his courtroom during the pandemic, he called COVID-19 the "China Virus" three separate times.

This is simply not acceptable. I'm appalled, and you should be, too.