Who could have predicted, as recently as January, that our year would bring us not only an unprecedented global health pandemic but also a busy hurricane season? Yet, here we are, in August 2020, doing our best to stop the spread of COVID-19 while, at least in Houston and the surrounding areas, preparing for Hurricane …read more »
Practical Advice for Employers Responding to COVID-19 Contact Tracers
In mid-April 2020, which in the age of COVID-19 feels like eons ago, President Trump announced his Opening Up America Again plan, designed to restart the U.S. economy by encouraging state and local governments to lift stay-at-home restrictions put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19. And many state and local governments followed the …read more »
Understand the WARN Act’s Oft-Misunderstood “Unforeseeable Business Circumstance” Defense and its Potential Applicability to Your Layoffs
As the novel Coronavirus, COVID-19, continues to impact employees and employers alike, employers must make difficult decisions to protect their businesses. The United States is facing what some predict to be the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Many employers are finding it necessary to reduce their workforce to stay afloat. The federal Worker …read more »
Zoom May Be Here to Stay, but Are You Ready to Produce the Recordings in Discovery?
Videoconferencing—through productivity tools like Zoom, Webex, and Microsoft Teams—has become part of the new normal. Matters that as recently as six weeks ago would have been handled by conference call are now routinely, in some cases almost exclusively, addressed in videoconferences. And while not every employee has embraced Zoom and its analogs, consensus among employers …read more »
DOL Clarifies That the FFCRA Does Not Restrict Employers from Laying Off, Furloughing Employees
Since the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) was signed into law on March 18, 2020, employers have posed one question more than all others: Does the FFCRA somehow protect employees from layoff (or furlough), at least until after paid leave required by the Act has been provided? In recent informal guidance, the U.S. Department …read more »