Employers across the nation, concerned for the safety of their workers, customers and clients, are assessing the best way to get their employees fully vaccinated. Some are contemplating offering incentives to encourage employees to receive a COVID-19 vaccine as a way to avoid the potentially problematic alternative of requiring employees to be vaccinated.
The Maine Legislature could vote as early as next Wednesday on a bill to end at will employment in Maine. The Committee on Labor and Housing voted it out of committee by a 7-3 vote. Our hope is that the Legislature will reject this ill-conceived and poorly drafted legislation or, if the Legislature does not, that Governor Mills will veto the bill.
When our country elected Joe Biden as President, he made it clear that changes at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) would be swift and that he would deliberately advance his pro-worker agenda.
One of the provisions of the American Rescue Plan Act that is not getting many headlines is the expansion of tax credits for the employers who voluntarily offer the paid sick leave and/or expanded paid family medical leave previously required under FFCRA.
The Bennett Law Firm announces with pleasure that Pawel Binczyk has joined the firm as an associate attorney in its Portland office.
Pawel graduated from Amherst College, earning a B.A., cum laude, in English. Thereafter, he attended The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law where he earned his J.D., cum laude, served on the Journal of Contemporary Health Law and Policy as well as the National Trial Team, and was a recipient of the Michael F. Curtin Pro Bono Award.
Pfizer and Moderna are distributing their vaccines for COVID-19 for front line workers and high-risk individuals, creating feelings of increased optimism for 2021. However, perhaps due to the quick development of the vaccines, a significant percentage of the population continues to express doubt about getting inoculated.
In our last E-Alert, we reminded you that, absent any last-minute action by Congress, the mandated paid sick leave and expanded paid FMLA were both scheduled to expire on December 31, 2020. With that expiration the tax credits available to employers to cover the cost of the mandated paid leave would also lapse.
Congress worked through the weekend to finalize additional COVID-19 relief legislation. Although not yet final at the time of writing, all reports indicate that the new bill does not extend the Emergency Paid Sick Leave (EPSL) and the Emergency Family and Medical Leave expansion (EFML) for parents, both of which Congress passed as part of the FFCRA in March.
Although college has taken on myriad different shapes for students this year, it remains both an exciting and anxiety-inducing time for parents. In addition to the academic and social navigation that parents fret about when their college aged child lives independently and often far away, health and safety have taken on an out-sized role for many parents against the backdrop of the current global pandemic.