City of Los Angeles Extends Its “Safer at Home” Posting Requirements to May 15 On May 4, Mayor Eric Garcetti extended Los Angeles’s strict pandemic-driven health directive to May 15, signaling a gradual easing of restrictions from there if and as conditions warrant. It has been a remarkable evolution. The city’s March 19, 2020 initial […]
“Safer at Home” Up-to-Date, Statewide Coronavirus Response We are entering week seven from Governor Newson’s March 18 order requiring all California residents to stay at home or place of residence until further notice. Businesses and functions deemed essential to 16 federally-designated “critical infrastructure” sectors are excepted. The state is regularly updating “COVID Response – Stay Home Except for Essential Needs […]
Once upon a time (not too) long ago, our current of state business and workplace hibernation was unimaginable. As management plans for return to full operation, best practice in whatever the form – letter, notice posting, policy – will acknowledge a new definition of normal, welcoming “respiratory etiquette,” “hand hygiene,” “personal protective equipment” (PPE), and “effective social distancing” into daily interchange.
Workplace Return Planning There is no shortage of federal guidelines for preventing a new pandemic wave as more businesses welcome workers back to resume full production. Reflecting many of our recent articles, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Guidance Summary: Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19 advises: Developing a preparedness and response plan (also see our article: Thinking the […]
Employers Must Use New I-9 Form Starting May 1, 2020 All U.S. employers must verify identity and work authorization for each employee hired within the U.S., including citizens and non-citizens, using “Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification” (I-9 Form). Starting May 1, 2020, businesses nationwide must begin using the revised I-9 Form (rev. 10/21/2019). Section 2 […]
Overview of CARES Act Small Business Loans On March 27, 2020, President Trump approved The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES Act), a $2 trillion relief package intended to protect small business from the economic impacts of COVID-19. Some media have overstated CARES Act business loans as “free money” or “fully forgivable.” Enterprise owners […]
COVID-19 Paid Leave and Tax Credits As reported in Federal Coronavirus Workplace Relief (March 23) and COVID-19 Gets Noticed (April 2) the March 18 Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) requires most employers with fewer than 500 on payroll to provide paid sick and family leave wages for certain COVID 19-related absences. The FFCRA includes […]
Key Protection Protocols for an Essential Industry Employee’s COVID-19 Diagnosis/Symptoms As of April 7, all but five states (the Dakotas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Arkansas) have some form of COVID-19 “safer at home” orders in place. For those businesses permitted or directed to stay open as part of the 16 federally-designated “critical infrastructure” sectors, management faces […]
California’s Coronavirus Response Statewide and Local April 3, 2020 Current Status Welcome to our new pandemic-driven world, evolving daily. On March 19, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newson issued Executive Order N-33-20 requiring all California residents until further notice to stay at home or place of residence except for those in businesses and functions deemed essential to […]
As reported in “Federal Coronavirus Workplace Relief,” the March 18 Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) contains two nationwide employee leave laws, the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (PSL Act) and the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act (EFMLA). In essence and applicable to businesses with fewer than 500 employees: The PSL Act requires […]