Massachusetts lawmakers had a busy 2024 and have ushered in several new measures to take effect in the coming months. As Massachusetts employers close out 2024 and look toward the new year, they should keep the following key dates in mind:

  • November 21, 2024: Massachusetts earned sick time expands to cover physical or mental health

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors recently enacted an urgency ordinance that requires employers to provide supplemental paid leave of up to four hours per injection for employees working in unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine. The Employee Paid Leave for Expanded Vaccine Access Ordinance (the Ordinance) is effective retroactively to January 1, 2021 and will remain in effect until August 31, 2021.

Covered employers and eligible employees

The Ordinance applies to all employers who have employees working in the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. The Ordinance establishes a presumption that a worker is an employee and the employer bears the burden to demonstrate that a worker is a bona fide independent contractor, and thus not entitled to any benefits under the Ordinance.

Covered employers must provide “COVID-19 Vaccine Leave” to eligible employees to:

  1. Travel to and from a COVID-19 vaccine appointment;
  2. Receive the COVID-19 vaccine injection; and
  3. Recover from any symptoms related to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine that prevent the employees from being able to work or telework.

Eligible employees are those who: 1) work in the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County; and 2) have exhausted all available leave time under California’s 2021 COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Law, codified as Labor Code section 248.2. In other words, because Labor Code section 248.2 already requires employers to provide up to 80 hours of paid leave to employees for the same reasons as the Ordinance, employees must first use all available paid leave provided by Labor Code section 248.2 before they are eligible for paid leave under the Ordinance.
Continue Reading It pays to be vaccinated in Los Angeles County with new paid leave ordinance

On March 12, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law a bill requiring that all public and private employers in New York State provide their workforces with up to four hours of paid time off to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

More particularly, the law requires that Empire State employers provide their employees with “a sufficient period

From March 6 to March 8, the United States reported more than 500 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19), spanning at least 34 states. As the number of cases continues to grow, so will the number of employees seeking job protection under the Federal Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

What is the FMLA?

At a very high level, the FMLA is a federal law that guarantees up to 12 weeks of unpaid job protection for certain eligible employees dealing with their own serious health condition, or taking care of a qualifying family member with a serious health condition.

A serious health condition is broadly defined as an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves inpatient care or continuing treatment by a health care provider.

FMLA eligibility requires the following criteria:

  • The employee must have been employed with the company for 12 months
  • The employee must have worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12 months prior to the start of an FMLA leave
  • The employer employs 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius of the worksite

Continue Reading COVID-19 and the Family and Medical Leave Act: An employer’s guide to medical leave and job protections

Following New York City’s lead, New York state and Westchester County have each enacted laws providing additional workplace protections to victims of domestic violence. In this post, we will discuss these new laws and their impact on your business.

New York state:

Last month, Governor Cuomo signed legislation amending the state’s antidiscrimination laws with respect

Connecticut recently became the first state to mandate that employers provide paid sick leave for service workers (the “Act”), effective January 1, 2012.

The Act may indicate an emerging trend of which employers should be aware. Cities, including San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Milwaukee, have already passed mandatory paid sick leave legislation in recent years,