The Library

By Kirk Sosebee, Brett Marston, and Spencer Wiegard In this difficult time for employers, OSHA has placed another new requirement on their plate. Not only are employers encouraged to take extra steps and precautions to help protect their employees’ health and safety, new guidance from OSHA requires employers to record, and in some cases report, instances of coronavirus that are contracted by their employees on the jobsite. Employers have a general duty to record and report certain work-related injuries and illnesses to OSHA. Unlike the common cold or flu, which are excluded from OSHA’s recording and reporting requirements, OSHA is […]

On 3/26/20, The Virginia Association of Counties has put the public meeting guidance on one page:  https://www.vaco.org/local-government-operations-guidance-from-the-local-government-attorneys-of-virginia/ On 3/21/20, Attorney General Mark Herring issued an opinion here about public meetings during the emergency. In summary, localities are not authorized to hold public meetings to conduct regular public business solely by electronic means (meaning without a physically-assembled quorum of the local governing body, and a physical location open to the public).  Therefore, localities are advised to “defer any and all decisions that can be deferred until it is once again possible to meet in person.” (3/20/20 AG Op. pg. 4) There […]

With emerging concerns surrounding the COVID-19 (or “coronavirus”), companies face a growing number of issues, despite the fact that there are still no reported cases of the coronavirus in Virginia. This is a fluid situation, and Gentry Locke is keeping abreast of the ever-changing developments with the coronavirus. We have put together a team to follow the latest updates so we may advise our clients regarding the best practices to handle employee-related issues involving leaves of absence, the ADA, company travel, OSHA requirements, and other business-related matters that may relate to the coronavirus. We also encourage you to visit the […]

As 2019 comes to a close and the promise of a brand new year is before us, so are the U.S. Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) newest rules on overtime.  As we recently addressed here, the DOL released its final rule addressing the new salary thresholds employers are required to pay in order to satisfy the “salaried basis” requirement for the “white collar” overtime exemptions.  These thresholds become effective January 1, 2020.  This article focuses on another overtime rule the DOL recently finalized clarifying which benefits should be included in workers’ “regular rate of pay” used to calculate overtime premiums. Under […]

Originally published on valawyersweekly.com on December 16, 2019.