US: New York employers must provide paid time off for COVID-19 vaccinations

New COVID-19 vaccine paid time off requirement for New York employers

New York employers should be aware of a recently enacted New York State law that entitles employees to paid time off from work to receive COVID-19 vaccinations.

COVID-19 vaccine in California

Under this new law, New York employers must grant each employee a sufficient period of time, not to exceed four hours per vaccine injection, to take leave for purposes of obtaining a COVID-19 vaccine.

For employees who will receive a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine such as the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, this means that such employees will be entitled to up to eight … Continue Reading

The National Minimum Wage and care workers who sleep in: Supreme Court decision

By Amanda Sanders (UK) on April 1, 2021 Posted in Contracts, UK

The Supreme Court handed down its decision in the joined cases of Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake and Shannon v Rampersad and another (T/A Clifton House Residential Home) which concern an employee’s right to the national minimum wage for periods of time when they are required to remain at home on their shift and/or residential care workers who ‘sleep in’ but they are not actually performing some specific activity. The Supreme Court dismissed the two appeals, which will be welcomed by employers in the care sector, providing them with more certainty. In doing so the judges also reviewed previous cases … Continue Reading

Can COVID-19 be considered a superior force (“force majeure”) lawfully limiting an employer’s obligations?

By Geneviève Lay (CA) on March 29, 2021 Posted in Canada

Since the start of pandemic, our courts have rendered a number of decisions regarding the impact of COVID-19 and whether it constitutes superior force (commonly known as “force majeure” ) for the purposes of limiting liability. In particular, we can think of numerous cases in real estate law, whereby lessees and owners looked to the courts for either relief or an order for payment after businesses were forced to shut down by government decree.

But how has COVID-19 as a “force majeure” played out in labour law?

A recently published arbitration decision – SCP, sections locales 2229 et 2301 et … Continue Reading

La COVID-19 peut-elle être considérée comme un événement de force majeure limitant les obligations d’un employeur?

By Geneviève Lay (CA) on March 29, 2021 Posted in Canada, North America, Québec

Depuis le début de la pandémie, nos tribunaux ont rendu plusieurs décisions concernant l’incidence de la COVID-19 et la question de savoir si elle constitue un événement de force majeure aux fins de la limitation de la responsabilité. On peut notamment penser aux nombreux cas, dans le domaine du droit immobilier, où des locataires et des propriétaires se sont adressés aux tribunaux pour obtenir soit un redressement, soit un ordre de paiement, après que des entreprises aient été contraintes de fermer leurs portes en raison des décrets gouvernementaux.

Mais comment la COVID-19, en tant qu’événement de force majeure, a-t-elle été … Continue Reading

US: New COBRA Premium Subsidy in Third COVID Relief Stimulus Act

By Thomas Reddin (US) and Josh Owing (US) on March 25, 2021 Posted in Coronavirus, North America, United States

The latest COVID-relief bill, the American Rescue Plan Act, will allow most current and former employees and their dependents to receive fully subsidized COBRA continuation coverage beginning April 1 and continuing through September 30, 2021—even if they never elected COBRA or dropped coverage. To learn more about what employers with group health plans subject to federal COBRA need to know about the new law, read our legal update, Beware of the COBRA lurking in the weeds of the latest COVID-relief bill.… Continue Reading

The Right To Disconnect

By Maartje Govaert, Annette van Beers and Christine Daniels on March 25, 2021 Posted in The Netherlands

News about young Wall Street analysts asking for an 80-hour working week and employees working from home for a year now due to the Covid pandemic gives rise to the question of whether employees have the right to disconnect. In this blog we will discuss recent legislative developments in the EU as well as the status of the right in the Netherlands.

European legislative initiative

On 21 January 2021 the European Parliament passed a legislative initiative on the right to disconnect. The initiative recommends implementing an EU directive that allows those who work digitally to disconnect outside their working hours … Continue Reading

Employment Appeal Tribunal rules on carry over of holiday pay.

By Amanda Sanders (UK) on March 23, 2021 Posted in Contracts, UK

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has handed down its judgement looking at a workers right to claim holiday pay.

The claimant, Mr. Smith, worked for the respondent, Pimlico Plumbers between 2005 and 2011, and was considered throughout the six year period to be self-employed independent contractor. As such, he had no entitlement to paid annual leave, although he took periods of unpaid leave. In 2011, the claimant alleged that the respondent had fundamentally breached the contract and so terminated the contract, claiming for, amongst other things, holiday pay. The initial hearing considered the claimants status, and, having been held by … Continue Reading

US: Combating Human Trafficking of Domestic Workers In The United States

By Kevin Mayer (US) and Jackie Karama (US) on March 22, 2021 Posted in North America, United States

It is difficult to imagine that the evil of human trafficking, and all the pain and suffering it entails, can still be so pervasive this deep into the 21st Century. One would have expected that contemporary domestic and international law enforcement, to say nothing of the United Nations and all the monies it has at its disposal for such purposes, would serve as a resolute bulwark against this scourge of modern humanity. And yet it is a dominant player in the headlines as we learn daily of some new outrage perpetrated by those who would profit from human misery, sexual … Continue Reading

Can teachers be required to teach simultaneously online and in person?

By Kathleen Houlihan on March 18, 2021 Posted in Canada, North America, Québec

In a recent decision – Centre de services scolaire du Lac-Témiscamingue et Syndicat de l’enseignement de l’Ungava et de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue, 2020 QCTA 641, an arbitrator was called upon to determine if a school board’s requirement that teachers undertake a dual teaching system of simultaneous in-person and online learning was contrary to their right to privacy and constituted fair and reasonable conditions of employment.

As many of us know, given the COVID-19 pandemic, many students have had to miss school to self-isolate. In order to ensure that students in this position would be able to continue their education, one Quebec school … Continue Reading

Contexte de pandémie : un arbitre précise les droits et obligations des employeurs québécois en matière de télétravail

By Jonathan Deschamps on March 9, 2021 Posted in Canada, North America, Québec

Dans une décision récente, un arbitre de griefs a précisé les droits et obligations des employeurs québécois en matière de télétravail. Cette décision fait suite à celle qu’il a rendue l’automne dernier dans laquelle il a rejeté la demande d’ordonnance de sauvegarde du Syndicat des fonctionnaires municipaux de Québec (le Syndicat) visant à forcer la Ville de Québec (la Ville) à favoriser le télétravail.

La décision au stade provisoire

Tel qu’exposé dans notre billet de blogue sur la décision au stade provisoire, essentiellement, l’arbitre a rejeté la demande d’ordonnance de sauvegarde du Syndicat pour deux raisons :