Pennsylvania

Can you fire an employee for complaining that the company violated state/local COVID-19 orders?

January 12, 2021 | by Eric B. Meyer

whistleblower by Lorie Shaull from the Noun Project

Often, readers of the blog will email me recent blogworthy HR news.

Occasionally, an attorney will send me a favorable decision that s/he obtained for a client on an employment law topic that may interest readers of this blog. Today, that’s what I’ve got for you — a case involving some healthcare workers who claimed that their former employer fired them for complaining that the company was not following state and local COVID-19 mandates. Continue reading

Heads up! Check to see if your state and local quarantine rules have changed recently.

December 9, 2020 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image by thedarknut from Pixabay

Last week, I wrote here about how the CDC had changed its guidance on COVID-19 close contact. As a result, lots of state and local guidance became misaligned with the federal change.

But now they’re catching up. Continue reading

Vlog and Blog COMBO! COVID-19 and Thanksgiving. Plus, a new telecommuting mandate in PA

November 24, 2020 | by Eric B. Meyer

Amy and Eric are talking COVID-19 and Thanksgiving on YouTube. Only in 2020…

I had intended to keep the typing to a minimum today by sending you over to The Employer Handbook YouTube Channel, where I posted this video in which my colleague, Amy Epstein Gluck, and I tried to answer the question: “How should businesses handle employee travel for Thanksgiving?”

Then Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf went and signed this new Executive Order yesterday that significantly changes how local employers will do business for the foreseeable future. Continue reading

That time when all the employment lawyers got paid and the litigants got zilch!

November 23, 2020 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

Just about the only folks guaranteed to get paid in an employment discrimination case are the lawyers. Continue reading

Heads up, PA employers! The Commonwealth just strengthened its COVID-19 mask and testing rules 😷👩‍⚕️👨‍⚕️

November 19, 2020 | by Eric B. Meyer

Governor Tom Wolf from Harrisburg, PA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Pennsylvania businesses with employees who report to the office will need to update their workplace policies in light of some new rules effective this week. Continue reading

Free COVID-19 claims and lawsuits webinar? And a slide deck on EEO considerations too? I got you, fam!

October 8, 2020 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image by 政徳吉田 from Pixabay

Who loves you?

My employer fired me because I use medical marijuana. Can I sue?

October 5, 2020 | by Eric B. Meyer

Image by CMElixirs from Pixabay

Well, that depends. 😉 Continue reading

In Philadelphia, just about everyone is eligible now for COVID-19 emergency paid sick leave

September 22, 2020 | by Eric B. Meyer

vargas2040, Cropped by OsamaK / CC BY-SA

You get emergency paid sick leave! You get emergency paid sick leave! You get emergency paid sick leave! Continue reading

Those COVID-19 stay-at-home and business-closure orders in your state may be unlawful after all

September 15, 2020 | by Eric B. Meyer

Paul Sherlock / CC BY-SA

Yesterday, a Pennsylvania federal judge issued this 66-page blockbuster decision, in which he concluded, among other things, that Governor Wolf violated the United States Constitution with orders closing “non-life-sustaining” businesses otherwise and directing Pennsylvanians to stay at home.

It may not be legal now to fire an at-will employee who misses work with a fever.

September 10, 2020 | by Eric B. Meyer

Chris Potter / CC BY

An employer may find itself in hot water for firing an employee absent with COVID-19 symptoms — even a low-grade fever — regardless of whether s/he is eligible for leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. Continue reading