Six States have updated their employment laws so far this month, alongside six Federal Law Updates. Our HR Advisors are versed and ready to answer your toughest HR questions to help your company through working remotely, coming back to work and all year long.
"As Covid-19 impacts businesses nationwide, Federal Employment Laws are adapting to offer additional flexibilty. These law updates may impact your employee leave policies. We were built to help you handle this."
1
A test-based strategy is no longer recommended to determine when to discontinue home isolation, except in certain circumstances and symptom-based criteria wer modified.
On July 20, 2020 the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) announced:
The CDC also provides, and regularly updates, the following resources:
2
An extension to the flexibility rules for Form I-9 compliance.
On July 18, 2020, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced:
On March 19, the physical presence requirements associated with the Form I-9 were deferred and set to expire on May 19. Then on May 19, and again on June 19, the deferral was extended for an additional 30 days respectively.
3
The U.S. Department of Labor released additional guidance on the following laws impacting workplaces reopening during COVID-19.
On July 20, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor released additional guidance on how the protections of the following laws impact workplaces reopening during COVID-19:
These materials include the following:
The Wage and Hour Division also provides additional information on issues employers and employees face when responding to the coronavirus and its effects on wages and hours worked under the FLSA and job-protected leave under the FMLA.
4
The EEOC publishes FAQ regarding the FEEOL and COVID-19.
On July 16, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released new optional-use Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) forms that employers can use to provide required notices to employees; and employees can use to provide certification of their need for leave for an FMLA qualifying reason. These forms are electronically fillable PDFs and can be electronically saved. Employers may also use their own forms if they provide the same basic notice information and only require the same basic certification information.
The forms that were updated, in June 2020 and expire June 30, 2023, have more questions with check-box responses and include electronic signature features:
The FMLA does not require the use of any specific form or format. Although the DOL revised the FMLA forms in June 2020 to make them easier to understand for employers, leave administrators, healthcare providers, and employees seeking leave, the revised forms convey and collect the same information, which can be provided in any format, as the old DOL forms.
Employers cannot require employees to provide new certification, using the updated form, when the employee already provided the required FMLA information using the old certification form. Additionally, the content of the information contained within an expired optional-use DOL form is still applicable, regardless of the expiration date. The expiration date on the DOL forms is related to the collection of information as required by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and not relevant to the content of the required information.
Lastly, these forms do not have any applicability to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). The FFCRA has different documentation requirements located here (see #15 and #16)
5
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) decided the following cases addressing religion and employment.
On July 8, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) decided the following cases addressing religion and employment:
In Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home vs. Pennsylvania et. al., SCOTUS held that the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury had authority under to create lawful exemptions under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for employers with religious or moral objections from providing contraceptive coverage to their employees under their group health plans.
6
OSHA released interim guidance regarding enforcing its recordkeeping requirements in recording COVID-19 cases.
On July 8, 2020, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service released Notice 2020-54 guiding employers in their required reporting of the amount of qualified sick leave wages and qualified family leave wages they paid to their employees under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). Employers will be required to report these amounts either on Form W-2, Box 14, or on a separate statement. This required reporting provides employees who are also self-employed with information necessary for properly claiming qualified sick leave equivalent or qualified family leave equivalent credits under the FFCRA.
Read more about the Credit for Sick and Family Leave and the Employee Retention Credit, which are two new employer tax credits for businesses severely impacted by COVID-19.
Individual State Labor Laws
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Purpose Medicare began offering “Part D” plans — optional prescription drug benefit plans sold by private insurance companies and HMOs — to Medicare beneficiaries many
Seven State Law Updates have been issued.
Seven State Law Updates have been issued.
