When Election Day nears, employers should be prepared to respond to an employee's request for time off to vote. While there is no federal law mandating voting leave, most states require employers to provide their employees with time off from work to vote in an election.

Question: I have an employee with a hygiene issue. How should I handle that?

Amendments to Philadelphia's PHFWO

USCIS recommends that employers review the Employee Information and Attestation area in Section 1 for two common mistakes employees make:

The federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act imposes a notice of obligation on covered employers who implement a “plant closing” or “mass layoff” in certain situations, even when they are forced to do so for economic reasons. Employers with 100 or more full-time employees must provide at least 60 calendar days of notice to employees, unions, and state/local government officials. Even though COVID-19 was unforeseeable, an employer should provide as much notice to affected employees as possible. Additionally, some states have laws more stringent than federal WARN such as CA, IL, MA, NJ, NY, TN and WI.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a proposed rule on September 22, 2020 to clarify when a worker is an employee covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) or an independent contractor. Independent contractors are not eligible for minimum wage, overtime and other benefits that employees must receive. The proposed rule adopts an "economic reality" test to determine a worker's status as an FLSA employee or an independent contractor.

Employers may recommend that employees get flu shots. In certain industries, such as health care, they are required. In certain situations exceptions to mandatory vaccination should be made, such as for a disability or religious accommodation request. In the middle of a pandemic, employers may think about encouraging inoculation.

Sexual Harassment Training

Wage Theft Prevention Act (WTPA)