Yet again, New Jersey’s appellate court has demonstrated its reluctance to enforce agreements to arbitrate signed as part of a new employee’s orientation. In a previous post we discussed a ruling from the Appellate Division demonstrating the risk of having employees execute arbitration agreements during an orientation process. The court…
New York has long lagged behind New Jersey in according protection to employees who blow the whistle on unlawful or unsafe conditions in the workplace. Unlike its sister state, New York employees had a higher bar for achieving protected whistleblower status under section 740 of the New York Labor Law…
No sooner did OSHA issue its Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) on November 4, 2021, to implement mandatory vaccination or testing programs for large employers, it was challenged in 11 of the 12 United States Courts of Appeals as an unconstitutional overreach by the agency. Last Friday the 5th Circuit Court…
As part of President Biden’s plan for battling the COVID-19 pandemic, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued the anxiously awaited emergency temporary standard (ETS) “to protect unvaccinated employees of large employers (100 or more employees) from the risk of contracting COVID-19 by strongly encouraging vaccination.” Consistent with…
On September 9, 2021, President Biden announced that large employers of 100 or more must mandate that their employees show proof of being fully vaccinated for COVID-19 or wear a mask and undergo weekly COVID-19 testing. These mandates were not slated to go into effect until the Occupational Safety and…
In June of 2021 the New York Legislature passed the HERO Act requiring employers to adopt an airborne infectious disease exposure presentation plan by no later than August 5, 2021. Employers were free to use the State’s model plan entitled Airborne Infectious Disease Exposure Prevention Standards and Model Plans for…
The aim of President Biden’s “Path Out of the Pandemic,” announced on September 9, 2021, is to increase the number of vaccinated workers across the country. To that end, the plan includes several requirements that will affect more than 80 million private sector workers and most workers in the public…
Since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, employers have been grappling with an ever-changing landscape of federal and state mandates and recommendations. The situation is further complicated by varying opinions about how the pandemic should be handled as well as the efficacy or safety of the vaccines. Employers…
Yesterday we issued a publication warning that Governor Murphy’s Executive Order 242, lifting the mask and social distancing mandates for workplaces effective May 28, 2021, was limited to businesses that open their doors to the general public. Private businesses that do not open their indoor spaces to the public for the…
Many across the State are celebrating Governor Murphy’s Executive Order (EO) No. 242 lifting the mask and social distancing mandates for businesses and workplaces put in place by EO 192 at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, EO 242 states that individuals in “indoor public spaces” are no longer…