The federal government’s COVID-19 Action Plan has three vaccination prongs: a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requirement for vaccination of all employees of CMS-certified providers of specific enumerated services; an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirement that employers adopt either a policy requiring vaccinations or a policy allowing employees a choice between […]
Posts Tagged ‘covid-19’
Does the Federal Contractor Vaccine Mandate Apply to Local Governments?
Tuesday, November 30th, 2021The New OSHA COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing ETS: On Hold Now but Maybe Coming Soon
Sunday, November 21st, 2021Under the federal government’s COVID-19 Action Plan, three separate, new vaccine mandates will affect local government employers. Of the three, one from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will have the greatest impact—if the courts let it stand. The new OSHA COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) will require employers to put […]
An In-Depth Look at Religious Exemptions from COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates
Friday, October 8th, 2021An increasing number of employers are making vaccination against COVID-19 a condition of employment. In the near future, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the North Carolina Division of Occupational Safety and Health (NC OSH) are likely to require most larger employers to adopt a vaccine mandate (see here). Vaccine mandates are […]
An In-Depth Look at Medical Exemptions from COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates
Monday, October 4th, 2021An increasing number of employers are making vaccination against COVID-19 a condition of employment. In the near future, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the North Carolina Division of Occupational Safety and Health (NC OSH) are likely to require most larger employers to adopt a vaccine mandate (see here). Vaccine mandates are […]
Will President Biden’s Emergency Vaccination-or-Weekly-Test Mandate Apply to Local Government Employers?
Thursday, September 23rd, 2021On September 9, 2021, President Biden announced a new COVID-19 Action Plan that included three items of interest to local government employers: 1) a directive that certain employers ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or require any workers who remain unvaccinated to produce a negative test result on at least a weekly basis before coming […]
COVID-19 and the Workplace Part 3: OSHA’s Healthcare Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS)
Monday, August 23rd, 2021On June 21, 2021, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) COVID-19 Healthcare Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) became effective. Many local government employers didn’t pay much attention. After all, the ETS was publicized as applying to employees in healthcare. But did you know that the ETS covers emergency medical services personnel? That means almost […]
COVID-19 and the Workplace Part 2: Infection, Exposure and Return to Work
Tuesday, August 17th, 2021COVID-19 never really went away but now, with the emergence of the highly contagious Delta variant, local governments have an increasing problem. They are finding that employees are unable to work because they are infected with Delta or have been exposed to it. Over the course of the pandemic, official recommendations for dealing with these […]
COVID-19 and the Workplace Part 1: Vaccine Mandates, Vaccine Incentives and More
Monday, August 16th, 2021In December 2020, I published a blog post titled May a Public Employer Require Vaccination Against COVID-19?. In that post I concluded that a public employer may require its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment. That conclusion has not changed. But much has happened since then, including publication of the […]
The American Rescue Plan Act: Employers Who Voluntarily Extend FFCRA Leave May Be Eligible for Substantial Employment Tax Credits
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2021Local government employers are now eligible for credits against the social security and Medicare tax payments that they must make, if they voluntarily extend Emergency Paid Sick Leave (EPSL) and Emergency Family and Medical Leave (EFMLA leave) through September 30, 2021. Through most of 2020, governmental employers had to make the same special wage payments […]
An Update on COVID-19 Vaccination for Local Government Employers
Thursday, March 4th, 2021UPDATED MARCH 25, 2021 Starting now, many, but not all, local government employees are eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations. In an earlier blog post, I outlined North Carolina’s vaccination priority plan. The state has made changes to the plan to align it more closely with the Centers for Disease Control’s recommendations and with the realities of […]
FFCRA Not Extended; Expires December 31, 2020
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2020The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), passed in March as the federal government’s first response to the COVID-19 crisis, is a law with many parts. The Emergency Sick Leave Act and the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act are the two most familiar to public employers. The stimulus bill that passed late last […]
May a Public Employer Require Vaccination Against COVID-19?
Sunday, December 20th, 2020UPDATED MARCH 25, 2021 Every year many employers choose to require employees to undergo vaccination against seasonal influenza (flu). This year, however, a different decision will confront employers: whether to require employees to undergo vaccination against COVID-19. The flu vaccine has been around for a long time and its side effects and efficacy are well […]
Governor’s Stay At Home Order Extended – What Does This Mean for Local Governments?
Friday, April 24th, 2020On April 23rd, Governor Cooper issued Executive Order 135 extending his statewide Stay At Home Order (Executive Order 121) for another nine days. The Governor’s Stay At Home Order was due to expire on April 29th; EO 135 extends it to 5:00p.m. on May 8, 2020. Is this all that EO135 does? Below is the […]
Furloughing Employees During the COVID-19 Crisis
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2020To slow the spread of COVID-19, to comply with Governor Cooper’s stay-at-home order, and to deal with budget stresses, many local governments are considering furloughs. A furlough occurs when one or more employees are put into a temporary leave without pay status during which they are instructed not to perform any work. There are no […]
School of Government COVID-19 Procurement Resources – We’re Here to Help!
Thursday, April 16th, 2020As the fight against the coronavirus wages on, local government purchasing officers, clerks, department heads, and others who handle procurements are scouring every vendor and supplier they can think of to find everything from surgical masks and gloves to rental equipment to sanitizing and cleaning supplies to telework devices, and yes, even the ever-elusive toilet […]
Highlights of the U.S. Department of Labor’s FFCRA Regulations
Monday, April 6th, 2020THIS BLOG POST HAS BEEN UPDATED ON SEPTEMBER 30, 2020 On Monday morning, April, 6, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued regulations implementing the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act (the Emergency FMLA Act”) and the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (the “Sick Leave Act”), both part of the Families First Coronavirus […]
Governor’s EO 124 Prohibits Local Government Utility Disconnections and Late Fees and Mandates New Reporting Requirements
Thursday, April 2nd, 2020UPDATE May 30, 2020: As detailed in this post, Governor Cooper issued EO 142 on May 30, 2020, which extends the effective period of EO 124 through July 29, 2020. Updated May 2020: The Attorney General’s Office has modified the reporting requirement from weekly to monthly. The first report is due May 12, which will […]
Can We Really Ban In-Person Attendance at Board Meetings During the Coronavirus Emergency?
Wednesday, March 25th, 2020[Update 11/18/2020: Section 5.2(a) of the Governor’s Executive Order 169 (extended by Executive Order 176) generally exempts “government operations” from the order’s prohibitions on mass gatherings. The NC Department of Public Safety interprets “government operations” to include local government board meetings. Section 5.2(a) expressly does NOT exempt government operations from the capacity limits imposed by Sections 3.2 […]
How the Paid Sick Leave Provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act Affect Government Employers
Sunday, March 22nd, 2020THIS BLOG POST HAS BEEN UPDATED ON SEPTEMBER 30, 2020 On March 18, 2020, Congress passed and the President signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the “Families First Act”). The Families First Act is actually a compilation of a number of different acts with different purposes, all sharing the goal of providing […]
Can Counties and Cities Shut Down Video Gaming and Sweepstakes Establishments During An Emergency?
Saturday, March 21st, 2020As local officials in our state continue to respond to the rapidly evolving and ever-changing COVID-19 pandemic, counties and cities wrestle with difficult decisions about imposing restrictions and prohibitions under a local state of emergency declaration to address the public health and safety needs of their communities. Among the myriad situations currently confronting local jurisdictions […]
Water Disconnections During the COVID-19 Outbreak
Thursday, March 12th, 2020UPDATE: Please note that local government water and wastewater utilities are not subject to regulation by the State’s Utilities Commission. That means that the Utilities Commission’s March 19, 2020 order suspending disconnections does not apply to local government water and wastewater utilities. As per below, it is up to the governing board of each local […]
Electronic Meetings During the COVID-19 Emergency: Recommended Practices
Thursday, April 9th, 2020[UPDATE: Section 4.31 of Session Law 2020-3 enacted new G.S. 166A-19.24, which imposes a variety of procedural requirements on remote meetings held by public bodies during a state of emergency declared by the Governor or General Assembly. As defined by G.S. 166A-19.24, a “remote meeting” is one at which at least one board member participates […]
Tags:coronavirus, covid-19, Electronic meetings, Meeting notice, open meetings law, Public Comment Periods, public hearings, quorum, Voting
Posted in Featured Posts Related to COVID-19, General Local Government (Miscellaneous), Open Government, Open Meetings, Public Hearings | 2 Comments »