Created: April 07, 2021 06:57 AM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) News10NBC s Brennan Somers has heard from people asking this Good Question: Can employers require a COVID vaccine for workers?
To get that answer, and some more advice, Somers caught up with Matthew Fusco. He spent more than three decades practicing labor and employment law around town.
News10NBC s Brennan Somers: Can my boss tell me you need to get the vaccine to keep working here?
Fusco: Only if your boss can show it s essential to the job. If you ve been working without it, what made it essential now? Just the fact that it s available? I think your boss would have a hard time proving that. If you ve been working from home and your boss says we re eliminating working from home and to come back you have to have a vaccine, that s probably a legitimate demand.
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The EEOC recently released proposed regulations about wellness programs. Key takeaways include a program safe harbor and when only de minimum benefits can be provided. Additionally, the guidance provides insights into the EEOC’s thinking on how wellness programs should be structured, which is valuable for any employer sponsoring or considering a wellness program.
January 2021: Proposed Regulations and a Freeze
On Jan. 7, the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) published two sets of proposed regulations on wellness program incentives. The first set was under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the second set was under the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) (collectively, the “Proposed Regulations”).
The Tablet January 28, 2021
In this 2015 file photo, LGBTQ supporters wave a flag outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. The court ruled June 15, 2020, that federal anti-discrimination laws protect gay and transgender employees from discrimination. (Photo: Tyler Orsburn/CNS).
WINDSOR TERRACE Last week, a federal ruling in North Dakota flew under the radar that allows Catholic medical professionals, hospitals and organizations the right to refuse performing or providing insurance coverage for gender transition procedures, or insurance coverage for gender transition drugs, if it violates their religious beliefs.
The ruling was on a 2016 lawsuit filed by the Catholic Benefits Association an association of 65 Catholic dioceses and 1,100 Catholic church affiliates and private business owners against the United States Department of Health and Human Services over what is known as the “transgender mandate” of the Affordable Care Act.
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As HR Legalist predicted, President Biden is taking steps to swing the pendulum in an employee-friendly direction. While implementing substantive changes may take some time in light of the administrative procedures required, President Biden’s actions in his first few hours in office show that meaningful changes are on the way.
In his first few days as Commander-in-Chief, President Biden has taken two particularly notable actions. First, on January 21, 2021, President Biden fired Peter Robb, the former General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), after Robb declined to resign by close of business on Wednesday. Robb is the first general counsel to be forced out of this position since 1950. Before his tenure with the NLRB, Robb practiced labor and employment law for management-side law firms. During his time as the NLRB General Counsel, Robb advanced numerous business-friendly interpretations of the N
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Many employers have established wellness programs to promote employee health and, in doing so, help counter the ever increasing costs associated with employer-sponsored health benefit plans. Often employers want to establish programs that provide employees with incentives to achieve certain health outcomes, such as smoking cessation or weight loss. Employers must exercise caution in creating such health-contingent wellness programs, which necessarily require employees to disclose health information, because the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (“GINA”) prohibit medical inquiries unless there is a demonstrated business necessity or responding to the health inquiry is voluntary.