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Tag: WARN Act

Top 10 Post COVID-19/Coronavirus Employment Law Issues

Published by Brett Holubeck on June 17, 2020
Image of a sign that says that "the world is temporarily closed" to demonstrate that most activities are shutdown until the post COVID-19 recovery begins.
Photo by Edwin Hooper on Unsplash

Businesses are slowly returning to normal from the COVID-19/Coronavirus pandemic. However, there are still a number of issues that are employers are facing. Of course, the most important issue for many employers is making sure that their business survives. Unfortunately, many businesses are also facing another issue: lawsuits. The potential liability for companies is continuing to accelerate. Here are the most likely lawsuits, administrative proceedings, and labor/employment law issues that employers will face in a post COVID-19 workplace.

1. WARN Act Lawsuits

As I stated in a previous article, the WARN Act generally requires employers with 100 or more employees to provide 60 days’ notice before the closure of a business or a mass layoff.

With the numerous layoffs that have occurred, accelerating bankruptcies, lockdowns continuing in many states, and businesses operating at reduced capacity or shutting down there will be a number of people that will not come back to work. Many people suspect that 40% of the layoffs will be permanent. 40 million people have lost their jobs. Unfortunately, the sheer number of layoffs means that there will be some layoffs that were not properly done. WARN Act lawsuits will accelerate.  

2. Worker Safety Lawsuits and OSHA Complaints

As I stated in my post about essential workers, employees want to be safe. Many are filing OSHA complaints and lawsuits because they do not feel safe.

a. OSHA Complaints Are Increasing

OSHA has issued over 5,000 complaints related to COVID-19. There will be a number of OSHA complaints that will continue after businesses begin to reopen. Many employees are concerned about their safety especially those that are vulnerable or work in high risk jobs. Companies should expect that there will continue to be a number of OSHA complaints due to companies not following all the safety protocols that OSHA and the CDC have put out. As a reminder here are the protocols from OSHA and the CDC have been released:

There are two important steps to employee safety and COVID-19. First companies need to follow the guidance to the extent that it applies at their workplace. Second, companies need to communicate with their employees about the safety steps. Employees need to know the procedures that they need to follow.  Employees also need to have channels that they can use to report workplace problems and safety concerns. Finally, employees that know that their company is taking steps so that they feel safe in the workplace are less likely to pursue lawsuits or complaints against a company.

b. Lawsuits About Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

A number of employers have been sued for not providing enough personal protective equipment for employees including one against Smithfield  and another against a hospital.

The Smithfield plaintiffs’ suit was dismissed because they did not follow the proper channels for pursuing their claim (they should have gone through OSHA). While similar lawsuits are unlikely to succeed, companies should expect employees to continue to use all legal channels when they are not satisfied with the protective measures that their employer has taken.

3. Worker’s Compensation Lawsuits

Employers should expect a surge of worker’s compensation claims related to the coronavirus. It may be difficult for many employees to demonstrate that they got sick at work, but some states have made this easier through executive orders or other legislation that have basically enacted a rebuttable presumption that essential workers are presumed to have been infected while on the job. Bloomberg has a nice chart of which states have enacted such laws. For workers that are not essential or are not in one of the 8 states that have enacted such a law or regulation, it will be difficult to show that the employee actually got COVID-19 at work. This fact should reduce the number of successful claims in those states.

There continues to be conversations in Congress about protecting companies from liability, but nothing has passed yet.

4. NLRB Charges and Union Organizing

There are a number of signs that union organizing will increase as a result of COVID-19. Here are exhibits one, two, and three. Even nonprofit workers are turning to union organizing.

Union organizing and NLRB charges will continue to increase in the wake of COVID-19. Many unions have used the pandemic to strengthen their relationship with employees and seek to organize more employees. Many have been successful because employers have failed to take appropriate steps to protect employees or have not communicated with  employees about the steps that they have taken.

As a reminder, in some prior posts I wrote about what employers can and cannot do in a union organizing campaign and how to respond to an NLRB charge.

a. Employee Walkout Issues

There will continue to be employee walkouts because of the coronavirus. Stories about employees walking out because of concerns about safety are everywhere. As COVID-19 continues to cause problems and potentially a second wave of the Coronavirus comes, employers may see more walkout issues. This may especially be the case for workers that are more concerned about the virus because they are more susceptible to suffering from a severe reaction from it. Employers should remember that walkouts are likely protected under both the OSH Act (which may protect workers that refuse to perform a job if they are in imminent danger) and the National Labor Relations Act (which protects concerted protected activities by employees).

5. Employee Recall Lawsuits

As businesses reopen, there are a number of issues where employers could get into trouble. I wrote about employee recall issues recently. Specifically, I listed issues regarding the WARN Act, age discrimination, collective bargaining issues, and issues with the FFCRA once an employee is brought back. As businesses recall employees all of these issues, especially those related to discrimination, will become major concerns.

6. Refusal to Perform An Illegal Act

A Texas Supreme Court case called Sabine Pilot Service, Inc. v. Hauck states that an employer cannot fire an employee when they refuse to perform an illegal act.

In a recently filed case, an employee was required to come into the office to work. She claims that she was able to work from home and that the business was not an essential business and thus her employer was requiring to do an illegal act by requiring her to come to work. She claims that she was fired for refusing to come to work, which would have violated the stay at home order.

As businesses continue to reopen and restrictions continue to be placed on businesses, it may be the case that there will be additional lawsuits like this one.

7. FFCRA and Expanded Family and Medical Leave Lawsuits

When employees are finally able to resume working and meet with attorneys, it is likely that some of them will have potential claims against their employer for failing to follow the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). There may have been a number of people that have not been able to work because of childcare issues, their own illnesses, and being denied leave for other reasons (some of which may be legitimate). At least one employer has already been sued. Many companies will face similar lawsuits.  

8. Disability Discrimination Lawsuits

As I mentioned previously, employers have obligations to accommodate individuals based on a disability. As companies open up, it is likely that many people that may be more vulnerable to COVID-19 will seek accommodations from their employer. The most common accommodations include remote work or additional leave. The way that employers respond to these employee requests for a reasonable accomodation will be critical to avoiding potential lawsuits.

9. Employee Layoff Issues and Lawsuits

The sheer number of employees that have lost their jobs (more than 40 million) leaves a lot of room for lawsuits that typically follow a layoff. Excluding lawsuits related to WARN, here are some of the common issues that follow a layoff.

a. COBRA Notice Lawsuits

I wrote about COBRA notice problems in a recent post. There will be more COBRA lawsuits due to the difficulty that many companies have in providing appropriate notice to employees of their loss in health insurance coverage.

b. Non-Compete and Trade Secret Litigation

As people leave companies because of layoffs many will try to start their own companies or will be hired by competitors of their former employer. Some of these employees will inadvertently or purposefully try to take clients or trade secrets of their former employer. Companies should be careful when laying off workers that they eliminate employee access to various accounts and that no information is taken. Companies would do well to consider a severance agreement for employees with any confidential information to make sure that they return all confidential information and understand their responsibilities.

c. Failure to Pay Employees Properly

At least one company has been sued for failing to pay employees after the business was forced to shutdown due to COVID-19 and the employer lacked the funds to pay employees for their most recent work. It is likely that a number of wage and hour lawsuits will occur after the pandemic ends. Many employees were working remotely at time when many companies did not have many remote employees and may not have had the framework in place to track working time for these employees. The failure to correctly track time worked is likely to be a big concern for all companies that had hourly employees that were working remotely.

10. Remote Work Increases

Remote work is going to increase after the pandemic ends. Approximately 66% of workers were working remotely at the height of the coronavirus. This is compared to the approximately 5 million workers (or 3.6% of the workforce) that were working at home at least half the time in 2018. One survey from Gartner of CFO’s found that 74% of the surveyed CFO’s believed that 5% of their workforce would be permanently converted from office to remote employees after the pandemic ends. With as easy as it is to work from anywhere for office employees one should expect this trend to continue to accelerate.

Conclusion

Life after the pandemic will be very different than it was before. People are much more concerned about safety.  Travel is down and will stay that way for the foreseeable future. Some countries are discussing reducing globalization and diversifying their supply chains. In other words, the pandemic and the governments’ reaction to it are a major black swan event.

Companies need to be aware of the above issues in the immediate future as they navigate a post COVID-19 pandemic workplace. The only way for companies to grow after COVID-19 is for companies to adapt and seek ways to improve. Companies need to plan for the above problems and work with employees to succeed. With a recession already underway and uncertainty about how long it will take the economy to recover, planning is critical to the future success of companies.

The information provided in this blog is for educational purposes only and is not legal advice. If you need legal advice, then you should speak with a lawyer about your specific issues. Every legal issue is unique. A lawyer can help you with your situation. Reading the blog, contacting me through the site, emailing me or commenting on a post does not create an attorney-client relationship between any reader and me.

The information provided is my own and does not reflect the opinion of my firm or anyone else.                                                                                                                                                                                   

How to Reopen a Business and Recall Employees

Published by Brett Holubeck on April 24, 2020
Image of a shop sign with the words "Yes, we are open" to show that the store reopened.
Photo by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash

With COVID-19 still raging through the country and unemployment projected to hit 32% and affect 47 million people, recalling employees may seem to be one of the last things on employees’ minds right now. However, it is something that all companies need to seriously be concerned about.

Moreover, with President Trump’s plan to reopen the economy and Governor Abbott’s plan to reopen Texas it is something that all Texas employers need to start to consider. Governor Abbott stated that retail stores will be able to open under a retail-to-go plan on April 24, certain “nonessential” surgeries will be able to be performed, and state parks were opened on April 20. There will be additional announcements on April 27 and later as the plan to reopen Texas develops.

 So, what should companies do when they reopen?

Issues that Companies Face When Reopening and Recalling Employees

There are a number of issues that employers face when they are trying to reopen. If you read my COVID-19 article, article on protecting essential workers, or the WARN article, then you understand some of the issues that companies must consider when they reopen and recall employees.

Here are some additional issues to consider:

Avoiding WARN Act Issues

If you temporarily laid off your employees and intended to bring them back (I hope you listed an intended date of return on your notice to them if WARN applied), then you need and ought to take certain steps. The most important step is recalling employees to ensure that you do not meet one of the thresholds where WARN would have been triggered. As a reminder, the DOL states that

[a] covered mass layoff occurs when 50 to 499 employees are affected during any 30-day period at a single employment site (or for certain multiple related layoffs, during a 90-day period), if these employees represent at least 33 percent of the employer’s workforce where the layoff will occur, and the layoff results in an employment loss for more than six months. If the layoff affects 500 or more workers, the 33 percent rule does not apply.

If you laid off employees temporarily and want to bring them back, you must be extremely careful and act quickly.

Keeping in Contact with Laid Off Employees

You should be in contact with your employees. Now is a time to show them that you actually care about them. If you had a temporary layoff or are now recalling employees that were permanently laid off, then you should do things that actually demonstrate that you meant you would like to bring them back and show that you care so that you get the employees back when that time comes.

Some simple things that you can do to show that you care and keep in contact is to:

  1. Update the contact information (phone numbers, email addresses, and mailing addresses) for all employees
  2. If you gave a date when you expected the closure to last until then consider reminding employees and checking in before that date to inform them of what they will need to do to return to work and whether the opening will proceed on that date.
  3. Write and send letters of recommendation for former employees if they are applying for jobs.
  4. Do not contest unemployment and consider filing for mass unemployment while they are not working for you.
  5. When you contact employees you need to ask how they are doing. They are human. They are going through a lot. Businesses that show that they care about their employees are more likely to succeed.

Recalling Employees

Companies need to follow their protocols to recall employees.

If a company will rehire employees that were previously laid off or recall employees that were furloughed, then the most important thing a company needs is some form of objective criteria to determine which employees they will recall if they do not recall everyone. Typically, employers would first look at their employee handbook to see whether it outlines any return to work policy. Unionized companies must follow their collective bargaining agreement. If there is no policy in place, then employers should attempt to develop a policy that they will follow.

What criteria should you consider  before you bring employees back when you are not bringing everyone back?

  1. What jobs need to be brought back? Are there any jobs that do not need to be brought back?
  2. Will any employees need to come back before other employees? For example, some machinery may require maintenance before it is able to operate again. You may need to recall your maintenance staff first so that they can get any machinery that has been turned off up and running again.
  3. What skills do you need? Some employees may have cross-trained and be able to fill in other roles which could be important if less employees come back to work.
  4. Will you use past evaluations to determine what employees should not be brought back in the same job? How will you measure performance?
  5. Are you going to use seniority?
  6. Are there any employees that you are not going to bring back? You should document why you are not bringing back certain employees.

The most important thing to do is to document the reasons that you are bringing back certain employees. While this may seem like an easy task, how you conduct a recall will have major implications on potential discrimination claims and morale issues, and potentially WARN Act issues if you fail to recall enough workers.

Special Recall Rules for Employers with Collective Bargaining Agreements

If you have a collective bargaining agreement, then you must follow the requirements within it to recall employees. Typically, a collective bargaining agreement requires that employers recall employees by seniority in each position. If everyone is not recalled, then there may be obligations to bargain with the union.

Age Discrimination Issues

Companies need to carefully review who they plan to recall and review whether any disparate impact occurs on employees. Sometimes companies choose to use salary as a factor for returning employees. This can cause a situation where the oldest employees, typically those that have worked for a company the longest and thus have the highest salary, are not recalled because the company is trying to save money. Companies must be careful to justify the reasons that they are bringing back certain employees and not others. This kind of situation could cause an age discrimination claim.

Families First Coronavirus Response Act Issues

Any employee that is recalled will be immediately eligible to take sick leave under the FFCRA. Employees are not eligible for expanded family leave until they have been an employee of the company and on the payroll for at least 30 days. Any recalled employee will be eligible to take sick leave under the FFCRA right away and the company will need to front the money to pay for it. This may be especially difficult for companies that have been closed for more than a month.

Preparing to Reopen Your Business

There are a ton of considerations before any business reopens. A lot of it is specific to the particular business. One issue is employee safety. Lear, a Fortune 500 company that produces automotive seating and automotive electrical systems, has put together a great guide that can help companies that are preparing to reopen their business.

There are a number of factors to consider when a business reopens:

  1. Is there enough work? Can your business reopen, or should you file bankruptcy?
  2. How much work is there? Does your business need to bring back only certain parts of the business that are likely to be the most profitable? Will you cut other parts of the business?
  3. Are supply chains up and running and able to provide the business with the resources that you need to make your product or operate your business?
  4. Are your customers operating? Is there a market for your product or business? Does the business need to wait for customers to reopen first?
  5. Have you been keeping in touch with your employees as described above to ensure that you will be adequately staffed when you reopen? Some employees may not wish to come back especially if they are collecting more on unemployment. It is entirely possible that you may need to hire new/additional employees.
  6. Have you updated your procedures and practices before you plan to reopen? Have you reviewed all the guidance from OSHA and the CDC that apply to your business? Implementing them to the extent possible at a business is critical to protect employees and avoid potential claims against the business for failing to provide a safe working environment, worker’s compensation claims if employees fall ill, and premise liability claims from customers that get sick?
  7. Will you train your supervisors and cleaning staff to follow guidelines from OSHA and the CDC to ensure that cleaning is properly done? Have you identified areas that will need to be more frequently cleaned? Have you instituted new policies to space out employees in hallways, lunchrooms, and their workstations as is possible in your business? Will you institute staggered lunches?
  8. Have you updated your handbook to include policies related to leave under the FFCRA?
  9. Have you obtained the necessary safety supplies to clean areas and protect your employees including infrared (no contact) thermometers, masks, gloves, and additional cleaning supplies? Will you be using temperature checks when employees enter the facility?
  10. Have you trained supervisors to handle employee accommodation requests? For example, an employee with a heart condition may have a disability that needs to be accommodated. Are supervisors prepared to address any disability accommodation requests related to the coronavirus?
  11. Do you have a plan in place to let employees know all of the extra steps that you are taking to protect them and to receive feedback on any safety concerns? Are you posting flyers related to the steps that you have taken? Again, Lear has provided flyers that can be used.

These suggestions barely begin to scratch the surface of issues that businesses must consider to reopen. Every business is unique, and it is likely beneficial for businesses to seek outside guidance about their specific business as they prepare to reopen and recall employees.

Conclusion

With an over 20% “real” unemployment rate, many people in the country are suffering. This is not going to end soon. A lot of capital has been lost, supply chains have been destroyed, and the economy has changed forever. The more preparation businesses do to reopen, the more likely they will be successful in doing so.

The information provided in this blog is for educational purposes only and is not legal advice. If you need legal advice, then you should speak with a lawyer about your specific issues. Every legal issue is unique. A lawyer can help you with your situation. Reading the blog, contacting me through the site, emailing me or commenting on a post does not create an attorney-client relationship between any reader and me.

The information provided is my own and does not reflect the opinion of my firm or anyone else.                                                                                                                                                                                   

Texas Employer’s Guide to COVID-19 (the Coronavirus)

Published by Brett Holubeck on March 24, 2020
Image of the COVID-19 (new Coronavirus) to illustrate what employers are dealing with.
Photo by CDC on Unsplash

It is a full-blown pandemic. Companies are actively trying to figure out the next steps that they will take in the current situation to keep their businesses operating and deal with employee issues.

There have been a ton of posts for various companies with what they can do. I have yet to see one that has some of the Texas specific issues that employers face. I’ve put together some resources and insights below for employers.

The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) has put together some answers to commonly asked questions here.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) also has some guidance available for employers about the Americans with Disabilities Act and COVID-19.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has published guidance on preparing for COVID-19 and a page with more information on COVID-19.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has information on COVID-19 for employers. It also provided guidance on how employers should treat critical infrastructure workers who may have been exposed to someone with COVID-19.

The Department of Labor (DOL) also published guidance on the new Families First Coronavirus Response Act and other issues.

The DOL has also released some Questions and Answers on the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

Beyond those resources, here are some common questions that employers have had and some of the most important issues for employers to consider.

Alternatives to Layoffs

Before you consider laying off employees please consider other options that you do have. It is a very tough situation right now for all businesses and people, but there still are some ways to help your workers.

One option is to reduce employee hours. Texas has a Shared Work program.

It is essentially a program where businesses reduce employee hours for affected employees by at least 10% but no more than 40% for at least 10% of the employer’s workers in that particular unit. Workers that experience a reduction in hours can then get partial unemployment to supplement their hours.

The program allows a business to keep its employees and supplement their wages while they continue to work.

You must apply for a shared work program online and can do so through this link.

Employers can also reduce employee pay (there may be special steps for exempt employees) or offer a voluntary early retirement or severance package for anyone that wants to take it.

Terminating Some Employees

If you are not triggering the WARN Act but are terminating some employees and are looking for criteria to use to determine which employees to lay off, then you can find some tips on being consistent in disciplining and terminating employees here. To prevent an employment law claim you need to make sure that you document the reasons for termination. If it is related to the economic downturn and/or COVID-19, then you can put that on their termination notice.

When you are laying off some of your workers but not all of them it is important to use criteria to determine who will and who will not be laid off so that your policy is not discriminatory. You should use some objective criteria like seniority, required skills, or other factors to determine who to terminate.

Plant/Facility Closings or Mass Layoffs

Employers with more than 100 employees are required to give notice to their employees, the state, any union (if the company is unionized), and the chief local government official when they shut down a facility or layoff more than 50 workers for more than 6 months under certain conditions. You can read more about conducting a mass layoff or plant closing and the requirements under the WARN Act in my earlier article.

Small Business Loans for Businesses Affected by COVID-19

Texas small businesses that are affected by COVID-19 may be eligible for loans to help their business during this time. You can learn more about applying for loans on the Texas Economic Development site and the US Small Business Administration site.

Restructuring Work and COVID-19

Many people are working from home at this time, but only 42% of workers have worked from home occasionally. The other workers need to be at work to do their jobs. Some of these workers like those in the restaurant industry may not be able to perform their normal work because the restaurant is shutdown. You have the option to shift them into doing food delivery or other work if it is available and they are willing to do it. Do not forget to train the employees and continue to see what else they need to do to be successful. Many of them will be performing duties that they had not been performing before. For example, you may need track and pay the delivery driver’s actual expenses or the IRS mileage reimbursement rate if their costs to deliver food will take them below the minimum wage.

Remote Work and COVID-19

Managing remote employees can be challenging. Here are a few things to remember while you have employees doing remote work that did not normally do so:

  1. Be aware of and create a plan to deal with confidential information and cyber security issues. The employee’s spouses and children may accidently view information if the employee leaves their computer out. There may also be issues with the employee using their personal Wi-Fi to transmit sensitive materials and other issues.
  2. Tracking time for hourly employees is essential to ensuring that you are properly paying your employees and not creating liability.
  3. Workplace injuries that occur at home must be reported and companies will need to file a claim with their worker’s compensation carrier for injuries that the employees have.
  4. Make sure voicemail and calls are being forwarded.
  5. Ensure that the employee has access to company files that are stored on any shared server or on the cloud.
  6. Put procedures in place to manage your team and ensure that work is completed.

I wrote a much more detailed post about what companies must consider for remote employees in light of COVID-19. You can read it here.

What Can You Ask an Employee that is Sick with COVID-19?

The EEOC stated that:

During a pandemic, ADA-covered employers may ask such employees if they are experiencing symptoms of the pandemic virus. For COVID-19, these include symptoms such as fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath, or sore throat. Employers must maintain all information about employee illness as a confidential medical record in compliance with the ADA.

Can You Send a Sick Person Home If They Have COVID-19?

Yes, you can send a sick person home when they are exhibiting the symptoms of COVID-19. You can also require that they stay home while they are exhibiting the symptoms of the coronavirus.

Can an Employee Refuse to Come to Work Even Though They Are Not Sick?

Maybe. An employee cannot be forced to work in an unsafe environment. If your business is not following the latest guidelines from OSHA and the CDC, then it is possible that the person could file an OSHA retaliation claim. There may also be ADA issues where an employee’s request for time off or to work from home needs to be accommodated or at least considered. They may also be entitled for leave to care for their child under the new federal rule if their child is no longer in school. You may allow the employee to use their PTO or go on an unpaid leave of absence.

If none of these situations apply, then you can let the employee go if the employee is simply refusing to work. You do need to follow your policy though and carefully consider the consequences of firing someone in this situation. Obviously, some employees (e.g. healthcare workers) are required to work with people that may have COVID-19 or be at a risk for exposure. Employers are right to take action to ensure that these employees work and to fire them if they refuse. 

Can You Send Someone Home that May Have Been Exposed to COVID-19?

Companies can require employees to remain home if they have been to areas where the illness has been present or when they believe that the employee has been exposed to the virus. Companies must careful not to engage in discrimination and to be consistent in how they engage in the policy. There has been issues with some companies discriminating against people of Asian descent.

Returning to Work and COVID-19

You can require an employee to get a doctor’s note that an employee is fit to return to work  when an employee has a positive test result for COVID-19.

It is likely better not to require the employee to get a doctor’s note. Under the current circumstances it may be very difficult to obtain a doctor’s note and may take valuable time away from the doctors. You may instead seek some documentation from a local clinic or other source to certify that the person does not have COVID-19. You can also use your best judgment to take an employee back to work after a certain period of time when they no longer have the disease.

Caring for Children That Are Out of School Because of School Closures

Many states have laws that allow parents time off to care for children that are not in school. The new legislation that was passed at the federal level also has a provision that provides parents that need to care for their children 10 weeks of leave paid at 2/3rds of their regular pay if they are unable to work because they need to care for a child under 18 whose school or day care provider is closed because of COVID-19.

There are a number of items that businesses must maintain to obtain the tax credits for this leave. You can read about it here.

Families First Coronavirus Response Act

The government passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which requires companies with less than 500 employees (covered employers) to do the following as explained by the DOL: 

Two weeks (up to 80 hours) of expanded family and medical leave at the employee’s regular rate of pay where the employee is unable to work because the employee is quarantined (pursuant to Federal, State, or local government order or advice of a health care provider), and/or experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and seeking a medical diagnosis; or

Two weeks (up to 80 hours) of expanded family and medical leave at two-thirds the employee’s regular rate of pay because the employee is unable to work because of a bona fide need to care for an individual subject to quarantine (pursuant to Federal, State, or local government order or advice of a health care provider), or care for a child (under 18 years of age) whose school or child care provider is closed or unavailable for reasons related to COVID-19, and/or the employee is experiencing a substantially similar condition as specified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, in consultation with the Secretaries of the Treasury and Labor.

Moreover, as noted by the DOL, these covered employers must also provide the following benefit for employees that have worked for them for at least 30 days:

Up to an additional 10 weeks of expanded family and medical leave at two-thirds the employee’s regular rate of pay where an employee is unable to work due to a bona fide need for leave to care for a child whose school or child care provider is closed or unavailable for reasons related to COVID-19.

To pay for this the government has stated that covered employers will be able to qualify for a dollar-for-dollar reimbursement through tax credits.

The law goes into effect on April 1, 2020. The provisions above will be in effect through December 31, 2020.

There are a number of items that businesses must maintain to obtain the tax credits for this leave. You can read about it here.

What Should You Do If An Employee Has COVID-19?

Other than sending the employee home if they test positive but have not had symptoms or otherwise were not home for some reason what should companies do? Companies are not required to shut down if an employee tests positive. The virus has been found to be able to live on plastic and metal surfaces for 2-3 days, so it may be prudent to wait for that time to pass before reopening the company. Another option is to thoroughly clean the work area of the employee that has been found to be positive with the COVID-19 virus. You should also ask the employee to inform you of who they were in contact with so that you can inform those employees that may have been contact with an employee (do not mention the employee’s name) so that they can take appropriate measures. Generally, you should not disclose the employee’s name as the ADA and other laws prohibit disclosing medical information. As noted by Joseph J. Lazzarotti, ADA regulation 1630.14(d)(4)(i) provides a few exceptions to treating an employee’s medical condition as a confidential medical record:

Supervisors and managers may be informed regarding necessary restrictions on the work or duties of the employee and necessary accommodations;

First aid and safety personnel may be informed, when appropriate, if the disability might require emergency treatment; and

Government officials investigating compliance with this part shall be provided relevant information on request.

These are narrow exceptions but may apply in your workplace. You need to carefully assess when they apply to your business if you intend to use them.

Employers May Also Benefit From Submitting a Mass Claim for Unemployment Benefits

Submitting a mass claim is a way to streamline the unemployment benefits process for your workers and to prevent businesses from receiving a ton of notices regarding unemployment claims. Companies can also submit severance and wage information to streamline the process for their employees. Normally, companies need to submit the claim at least 5 business days before the layoff occurs, but this has been waived in the current crisis. You can read more about Mass Claims on the Texas Workforce Commission site here and can file a claim here.

Companies with Labor Unions

Companies cannot make unilateral changes to a mandatory subject of bargaining (such as changing workplace duties, increasing paid time off benefits, or bargaining about the effects of a layoff). You can review my article on negotiating a collective bargaining agreement to determine your obligations to negotiate. There may also be rules about laying employees off within your collective bargaining agreement that you will need to review to apply them to your business (e.g. bumping rights). 

Companies should be aware that the CARES Act (the COVID-19 stimulus bill) has a provision that requires companies with 500 to 10,000 employees that take a loan through the act to remain neutral in any union organizing attempt during the course of the loan. The Act does not define neutral, but this will likely be interpreted as requiring the company to follow similar requirements when the company signs a neutrality agreement during any organizing campaign. It would prevent the company from holding meetings, passing out literature, and even correcting misstatements that the union makes. Any company that needs a loan should carefully weigh this factor before applying.

Conclusion

We can do this. This will be a difficult time, but there is a way through this crisis. Employers need to do everything that they can to keep their business operating and keep their employees safe.

The information provided in this blog is for educational purposes only and is not legal advice. If you need legal advice, then you should speak with a lawyer about your specific issues. Every legal issue is unique. A lawyer can help you with your situation. Reading the blog, contacting me through the site, emailing me or commenting on a post does not create an attorney-client relationship between any reader and me.

The information provided is my own and does not reflect the opinion of my firm or anyone else.                                                                                                                                                                                    

Brett Holubeck (of Houston, Texas) is the attorney responsible for this site.