Labor & Employment

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As the economy and public health situation gradually move to a more hopeful phase in Connecticut, employers and HR administrators will benefit from staying on top of current legal developments and trends in employee benefits.  Let’s discuss two timely topics in employee benefits: (1) incentives for getting COVID-19 vaccines; and (2) extended time for employees…

Gov. Ned Lamont has signed into law House Bill 6515, entitled “An Act Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair”, commonly known as the “CROWN Act”, which makes it illegal to discriminate based on a person’s hair texture or protective hairstyle in employment, public accommodations, housing, credit practices, union membership, and state agency…

Connecticut’s Sexual Harassment Training Deadline Extended to April 19, 2021

The CHRO has announced a third extension of the deadline to provide sexual harassment training for all employees, including supervisors and non-supervisors.  In November 2020, the CHRO had announced that the deadline would be extended for a second time until February 9, 2021.  Now, the…

Earlier this month, a Massachusetts federal court dismissed discrimination and retaliation claims against Whole Foods Market and its parent company Amazon alleging that Whole Foods workers faced discipline and retaliation, including docked pay, cut hours, and even termination, for wearing face masks and other paraphernalia bearing the slogan “Black Lives Matter” at work.  Whole Foods…

HR administrators, employers, employees, and even independent consultants are all well-advised to remember the approaching March 15th deadline for the distribution of annual bonuses and many other forms of compensation that were earned in 2020.

Ever-lurking tax traps wreaked on businesses and individuals by Section 409A of the Tax Code makes each year’s due date…

We have been getting questions about the extent to which employers may encourage their employees to obtain COVID-19 vaccines when they become eligible.  There are a couple of thorny legal issues that may arise when employers offer incentives in connection with a voluntary employer-sponsored COVID-19 vaccination program.  We are aware that several large employers are…

Contained within the recent Stimulus Bill is the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020. Section 214 of that Act provides flexibility for Health Flexible Spending Accounts (Health FSA) and Dependent Care Accounts (DCA).

Background

HFSAs and DCAs have certain limitations and restrictions known as the ‘use or lose’ rule, which generally provide…

On the first day of his Presidency, President Joseph R. Biden made two major changes at the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”.)

First, President Biden terminated the current NLRB General Counsel Peter Robb.  By way of background, the NLRB General Counsel is the agency’s chief attorney and, among other things, determines the…

On December 28, 2020, President Trump signed into law a $2.3 trillion dollar Omnibus Spending Bill.  The massive Omnibus Spending Bill contains several Acts, including the Continued Assistance to Unemployed Workers Act (“CAUWA”), mainly focusing on the expansion of federal unemployment relief and worker entitlements.

One of the highlights of CAUWA is the extension of…