Articles by Editorial Staff

August 5, 2020

42 view(s)

California Releases COVID-19 “Playbook” for Reopening Businesses

Following the July 24th release of their guidance entitled “COVID-19 Employer Playbook For a Safe Reopening,” the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has updated a 32-page document to help California employers plan and prepare for reopening their businesses and to support a safe, clean environment for workers and customers. Summary of the Guidance The main focus of the update is to ...

August 4, 2020

69 view(s)

Court Vacates Parts of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act

On August 3rd, 2020, the federal court for the Southern District of New York (Court) struck down four parts of the regulations adopted by the Department of Labor (DOL) pursuant to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). This ruling (State of New York v. U.S. Department of Labor, No. 1:20-cv-03020) comes four months after the regulations went into effect, and five months before the ...

July 21, 2020

56 view(s)

New Employer Guidance Released on COVID-19 Testing, Leave, and Salary

On July 20th, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published additional COVID-19 guidance for employers on how the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) affect workplaces as they reopen during the global coronavirus pandemic. The newly updated resources from the DOL’s Wage and Hou...

July 17, 2020

46 view(s)

Employer Compliance Alert: New Regulations

On July 16th, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) announced that it was starting to take significant steps to streamline optional-use forms that workers can use to request, and employers can use to coordinate, leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Additionally, on July 17th, the WHD published a Request for Information (RFI) in the Federal Register se...

July 11, 2020

78 view(s)

Federal Agencies Issue Proposed Rule for Health Plan Flexibility

On July 10th, 2020, the U.S. Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Treasury released a joint proposed rule to amend the requirements for grandfathered group health plans and grandfathered group health insurance coverage in order to preserve their grandfather status. Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), certain group health plans and healt...

July 1, 2020

69 view(s)

DOL Issues Five New Wage & Hour Opinion Letters

On June 25th, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced the publication of five new wage & hour opinion letters that address compliance issues related to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). An opinion letter is an official, written opinion by the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) on how a particular law applies in specific circumstances presented by the entity that requested the ...

June 27, 2020

48 view(s)

CDC Expands List of Individuals at Risk for Severe COVID-19 Illness

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released an update to their previously issued list of who is at a higher risk for getting severely ill from COVID-19. Published on June 25th, 2020, the newly expanded list still includes older adults and people with underlying medical conditions as the majority of those who are at an increased risk, but has expanded on those age- and con...

June 24, 2020

55 view(s)

CCPA Enforcement Deadline Looms for Businesses

On January 1st, 2020, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) went into effect, protecting consumers’ privacy rights by placing obligations on how businesses collect, use, and share the personal information of California residents. Included within the protections, the CCPA provides affected consumers with the right to: know what personal data is being collected about them; know wheth...

June 21, 2020

59 view(s)

OSHA Releases New Guidance on Returning to Work

On June 18th, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued new guidance to assist employers as they reopen non-essential businesses. The guidance provides suggestions for working with their employees who are returning to work during the evolving coronavirus pandemic. The new resource, titled “Guidelines for Opening up America Again...

June 15, 2020

53 view(s)

Supreme Court Ruling: Title VII Prohibits LGBTQ Discrimination

On June 15th, 2020, in a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender identity is prohibited under federal civil rights law, speficially Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (Title VII). In the majority opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch stated: “An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender ...

37 of 40

Options

About author

Editorial Staff

Recent Articles

Practical articles on HR, Safety, compliance, and people operations—written for real businesses, not legal textbooks.

EPA Aligns Hazardous Chemical Requirements with Latest Hazard Communication Standard

At the end of June, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a final rule updating the agency’s current hazardous chemical inventory reporting requirements. Specifically, the rule aligns those requirements with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA’s) Hazard...

EEOC Rescinds Permissible Affirmative Action Guidance

On June 30, 2026, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) officially rescinded two longstanding documents relating to permissible affirmative action. The documents were part of the EEOC's guidance on affirmative action under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

USCIS, E-Verify Issues Updated Temporary Protected Status Guidance for Seven Countries

On June 25th, 2026, the United States Supreme Court (Court) issued a decision in Mullin v. Doe that has ramifications for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations for some employees. Specifically, the decision allows the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to move forward with ending...

DOJ Challenges EEOC's Stance on Disparate Impact Claims

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently issued a legal opinion that may signal major changes ahead in federal workplace discrimination enforcement. In a June 9, 2026 memorandum, the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) expressed the opinion that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's...

Department of Labor Issues 2026 Civil Penalty Update: No Adjustments This Year

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently published its annual update announcement regarding federal civil monetary penalties under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act. In a notice published in the Federal Register on May 27th, 2026, the DOL announced that no penalty increases...

View All Articles

Articles by Editorial Staff