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For more than a year, many American workers have been working from home. Now, as restrictions are lifting across the country, employers are beginning to call employees back to the office. Employers may see an uptick in requests to work remotely, particularly given the popularity of working from home. In responding to such requests, employers must be mindful of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and similar state laws.

Large portions of the American workforce report that they enjoy working from home, and the pandemic has shown telework is possible.

A recent study conducted by Harvard Business School Online reveals that some employees are not interested in returning to the office. The survey showed that 81 percent of respondents either don’t want to go back to the office, or would prefer a hybrid schedule (allowing them to work from home 2-3 days a week) going forward. One in three employees report that they felt that their overall performance and quality of their work had improved in the remote work environment, and the same percentage indicated that they are able to focus more at home than they are in the office.Continue Reading Navigating post-pandemic telework requests

As businesses reopen and employees begin returning to work, employers will have to navigate complex wage and hour issues they may have never considered before. Employers will need to adapt to a “new normal” of major workplace changes, including increased teleworking, social distancing, and new health and safety measures.

Wage and hour issues for employees returning to the workplace

Whether an employer must compensate an employee for the time they spend complying with new workplace protocols, like screening and safety measures, will require a fact-intensive, state-specific analysis.  The following are just a sampling of some wage and hour issues employers must consider (under both federal and state laws) as employees start coming back to work:
Continue Reading Wage and hour considerations in the post-COVID-19 era