Puerto Rico’s Law 37-2020 provides certain employees up to five days of paid leave once they exhaust other paid leave. Law 37-2020 amends Puerto Rico Law 180-1998, which establishes paid sick and vacation leave benefits for some private sector employees, excluding employees classified as executives, administrators, and professionals, among others. The new law is effective
Practice Areas
OSHA Issues COVID-19 Alert Identifying Safety Tips for Package Delivery Workers
In light of the ongoing safety concerns related to COVID-19, OSHA issued an alert identifying various voluntary safety measures that employers can take to keep package delivery workers safe from exposure to coronavirus. OSHA’s safety tips included:
- Establishing flexible work hours (e.g., staggered shifts) where feasible;
- Minimizing interaction between drivers and customers by leaving deliveries
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State Department Tightens Standards for L Visa Transfers
International companies rely on L visas to transfer managers, executives, and specialized knowledge employees to the United States. But the Department of State is changing the standards it uses to adjudicate those visas, making transfers more difficult.
L-1 visas are available to a company with a parent/subsidiary, affiliate, or branch office overseas that wishes to…
Should Virtual Arbitrations Be the Wave of the Present?
With COVID-19 causing most states to require their citizens to stay at home, employers face a challenge: what to do about their backlog of arbitration cases?
For some cases, it may not matter when they are heard and decided. However, for others, such as those involving the potential for a backpay award, a sooner-than-later case…
IRS Extends the Form 5500 Due Dates for Some Employee Benefit Plans
The Internal Revenue Service has broadened the filing and payment relief provided under prior guidance. IRS Notice 2020-23 postpones, among other relief, the due date for employee benefit plans required to make the Form 5500 series filings due on or after April 1, 2020, and before July 15, 2020. Plans with original due dates or…
The Role of Company Directors During COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic impact on the management of organizations, including throwing managers at all levels into an “all-hands-on-deck” reactive mode. In large measure, the immediate focus of management-level employees has been on business continuity, particularly moving the organization to a work from home workforce, workforce management including reductions in force by…
OSHA Expands Guidance on Respirator Fit-Testing to Cover all Industries
Due to the evolving coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic and emergence of outbreaks across the country, there have been widespread reports of critical shortages of personal protective equipment (“PPE”), such as masks, face shields, and gowns. OSHA previously issued guidance, including an April 3, 2020 memorandum and interim guidance and a March 14, 2020 enforcement memorandum,…
OSHA Issues Enforcement Guidance on Recording COVID-19 Cases
Today, OSHA issued long over due guidance relating to the recordability of COVID-19 cases for employers. In short, OSHA has stated that it will not enforce the recordkeeping standard,29 C.F.R. Part 1904, against the majority of employers due to the difficulty in determining whether an employee contracted COVID-19 at work unless there is objective evidence…
EEOC Answers Key Questions for Employers, Including Whether Employers Can Identify an Employee Diagnosed With COVID-19 to a Public Health Agency
Employers have been struggling with exactly what information they are permitted to disclose to a public health agency when an employee is diagnosed with COVID-19. The EEOC yesterday for the first time advised that, at least under the Americans with Disabilities Act, employers may disclose the employee’s name to the public health agency. However, employers…
Videoconferencing Zooms to the Forefront in the COVID-19 World
As the COVID-19 crisis continues, many companies throughout the country have arranged for significant portions of their workforce to work from home. A natural part of that arrangement is conducting videoconferences. With employees working at home in isolation, many seek opportunities to connect with others through a visual medium. Thus, companies are using videoconferencing to…