With the election of President Trump, we have begun to see the removal of undocumented aliens from the country. Many of our clients are seeing removal operations occurring in major cities being reported daily in the news. We have received numerous calls from clients who are concerned about the possibility of enforcement actions by ICE
Langdon Ramsburg
Voluntary Buyouts: The Pros and Cons
Yesterday, the Trump Administration announced that it offered voluntary buyouts to over two million federal employees. Employees who voluntarily resign their position will receive payments equal to approximately eight months of their salary. Obviously, the goal is to reduce the size of the federal workforce and related expenses.
From time to time, our clients ask…
The Pendulum Has Swung – Changes for Federal Contractors Under the Trump Administration
Since 1965, federal contractors have been required to take affirmative action to ensure that they are not discriminating against employees. The affirmative action requirement stemmed from an executive order (11246) issued during the Johnson Administration. That executive order related specifically to taking affirmative action to avoid discrimination on the basis of sex, race, and ethnicity. …
Bare Minimum Mondays – An Exercise in Self-Sabotage
After the pandemic began to ease, and labor availability was the lowest in recent history, many employees found themselves working more and more to fill the gaps in the workforce. That led to the trend popularized a year ago called “quiet quitting.” Under its tamest definition, quiet quitting was/is a practice where employees only did…
American Motion Sickness: The Seesaw of Labor Availability
Despite our best attempts to suppress the memory, we all remember it well. Just over two years ago, the pandemic triggered state-ordered shutdowns. Our economy obviously slowed to a crawl, and employers everywhere immediately found themselves with surplus workers. The result was mass layoffs, flooding the labor market with available employees. To get employees back…
Allegheny County Paid Sick Leave Ordinance – Take Two
In January, we wrote about Allegheny County’s paid sick leave regulations that took effect in December 2021. Now, we write to tell you that the regulations have changed. The change will affect only one key industry – construction.
When the Allegheny County Board of Health drafted its paid sick leave regulations, it clearly modeled them…
Federal Contractors: Reminder of Approaching OFCCP Certification Obligations
Historically, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) has not required federal contractors to submit proof that their written affirmative action plans were completed. The only time that a contractor had to produce evidence of its plan was during an OFCCP audit. As many federal contractors now know, that is about to change.
In…
Vaccines: Where are We?
After the country waited with anticipation for the better part of a year for a vaccine that would return us to some sense of normalcy, the FDA finally approved two vaccines in December. The plan was to vaccinate frontline healthcare workers first – for obvious and understandable reasons. It was also the plan that 20…
DOL Temporary Regulations Answer Questions About Employee Documentation Needed to Support Paid Sick and Family Leave Under the FFCRA
Yesterday, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) became effective, granting eligible employees emergency paid sick leave and emergency paid family leave in response to COVID-19. On the same day, after weeks of employers (and their attorneys) attempting to decipher the nuances of the leave requirements, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued temporary regulations, shedding…
President Trump Signs Families First Coronavirus Response Act to provide Paid FMLA Leave and Paid Sick Leave in Response to COVID-19
Yesterday, President Trump signed into law historic legislation that will have a significant impact on a many employers nation-wide. The legislation, called the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, has many provisions. We will focus this discussion on the workplace issues that most employers can expect to face.
Paid Sick Leave
The law includes the Emergency…