Employment & Business Litigation Pointers - Volume I, No. 8

As a public service, we are pleased to present this issue of Employment & Business Litigation Pointers, which aims to provide our clients and subscribers with timely information and practical, business-oriented solutions to the latest employment and general business litigation developments.  In some jurisdictions, newsletters such as this may be considered: Attorney Advertising.
 
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With WNY Poised for Phase 2, Is Your Business Ready to Re-open?
By Joseph S. Brown, Esq.

On May 28, Governor Cuomo issued guidelines for Phase 2 of the NY Forward reopening plan.  The Central NY, Finger Lakes, Mohawk Valley, North Country and Southern Tier regions were recently cleared to begin Phase 2, with Western New York getting the green light today.  This alert summarizes some of the key issues that businesses must consider as they make plans to reopen, including putting together a workplace safety plan.

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No Shirt, No Shoes, No Mask, No Service
By Ann E. Evanko, Esq.
 

We are all familiar with the signs in restaurants, retail businesses, and other establishments open to the public that warn against entering without a shirt or shoes.  These are Health Department directives. We now must become familiar with the “no mask-no entry” rule that private business and store owners/operators now can use to deny individuals entry into their businesses if they have no mask on or refuse to wear a mask or other face-covering. This is a significant expansion of prior Executive Order 202.17. 

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U.S. DOL Simplifies Analysis of Overtime Exemption for Commissioned Sales Staff in the Service and Retail Industries
By Katherine L. Wood, Esq.
 

New York State residents are excitedly awaiting the full re-opening of their favorite service and retail industry establishments.  While the top priority of employers in these industries is ensuring compliance with the State’s re-opening plan and CDC regulations, the Wage and Hour Division of the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) has issued a non-COVID-19-related final rule that these employers should not overlook. 

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As OSHA Returns to Pre-COVID-19 In-Person Inspections, OSHA Says Employers Must Make Efforts to Find Out If an Employee's COVID-19 Is Work-Related - But How?
By Marc A. Schulz, Esq. of our NYS Labor Law & Construction Defect team

On May 19, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that it is increasing in-person inspections at all types of workplaces, and it will now enforce the recordkeeping requirements for employee coronavirus illnesses for all employers. Under the revised guidance, if an employee contracts COVID-19, OSHA says an employer must make reasonable efforts—based on the evidence available to the employer—to ascertain whether a case of COVID-19 is work-related.  As businesses make plans to reopen, OHSA’s new approach to recordkeeping enforcement and commitment to increasing inspections makes it even more critical that employers have a protocol in place to properly investigate situations where an employee tests positive for COVID-19.

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Editor:
Joseph S. Brown, Esq.

Hurwitz & Fine's Labor & Employment team
is here to answer your questions:

Labor & Employment Law
Ann E. Evanko, Esq. ([email protected])
Andrea Schillaci, Esq. ([email protected])
Joseph S. Brown, Esq. ([email protected])
Amber E. Storr, Esq. ([email protected])
Katherine L. Wood, Esq.