Five Ward and Smith attorneys offered timely updates on religious accommodations, professional licensing, pregnancy laws, remote work, and independent contractor rules during the firm’s recent annual Employment Law...more
10/27/2023
/ Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Reform ,
Licensing Rules ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (“PUMP Act”) ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Remote Working
Two Ward and Smith attorneys and Luaskya Nonon, the Deputy General Counsel and DEI Task Force Chair for Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions, shared insights on how organizations can implement Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion...more
On July 12, 2022, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") updated its guidance regarding COVID-19 workplace viral screening testing.
The EEOC's original position on COVID-19 workplace viral screening testing...more
On January 13, 2022, in a 6-3 per curiam opinion in NFIB v. OSHA, the United States Supreme Court ordered the OSHA ETS be stayed pending disposition of the matter at the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Large Employer...more
Recently, several of our clients have asked us whether they are required to compensate their employees for time spent going for the COVID-19 test.
Fortunately, the United States Department of Labor ("USDOL") has issued...more
President Biden directed the United States Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration ("OSHA") to issue an Emergency Temporary Standard ("ETS") requiring that all employers with more than 100 (100+)...more
Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ("CDC") updated its COVID-19 guidance for fully vaccinated individuals.
The updated guidance provided that fully...more
Culture eats strategy for breakfast, or so we've been told by Mr. Drucker and others.
Coincidentally, I wholeheartedly agree. So, how does leadership maintain, let alone improve, its company culture in the face of the...more
As businesses begin to re-open and re-engage their workforce, and in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is worth exploring requiring your employees (and in certain circumstances, customers) to execute a liability...more
6/17/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Exculpatory Clauses ,
Health and Safety ,
Liability ,
Negligence ,
OSHA ,
Questionnaires ,
Return-to-Work Agreements ,
Virus Testing ,
Waivers ,
Workers' Compensation Claim ,
Workplace Safety
More than half of the states have started to lift restrictions to re-open businesses or have similar plans to re-open in the next few weeks.
This mass re-opening, coupled with the fact that some employees at home are...more
On January 12, 2020, the United States Department of Labor ("USDOL") Wage and Hour Division announced a final rule regarding joint employment under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"), to be published on January 16 of this...more
Leaders of closely held businesses got an opportunity to view a family-owned enterprise as an outsider would, instead of their usual position inside a company.
Ward and Smith's 2019 Closely Held Business Summit featured a...more
As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
In that spirit, what follows are certain pay and leave issues employers may confront during times of natural disaster – all of which are better to be thought...more
4/29/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Natural Disasters ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Severe Weather ,
USERRA ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
What follows are the "Top 4" issues or some variation/combination (in no particular order) that I have discussed with employers so far in 2018.
Some may seem like common sense for the more seasoned Human Resource Director,...more
10/15/2018
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
At-Will Employment ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workers' Compensation Claim
Sexual harassment in the workplace has been in the news a lot lately, thanks to high-profile cases involving people such as former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, actor Kevin Spacey, and Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein....more
Your business may be subject to an investigation by the North Carolina Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Division ("OSH") at any time. Investigations may occur because of an on-the-job accident or a...more