COVID-19 Blog

As the world fights to reduce exposure to the coronavirus, employers should be thinking about how to limit their legal exposure to a host of issues brought to fore by the ongoing health pandemic and economic crisis.  Although it may already be several weeks since many non-essential employers have pivoted towards remote work arrangements where feasible, companies are beginning to be named as defendants by employees for failing to ensure their safety.  Essential workers have filed class actions against their employers for a failure to provide necessary personal ...

The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing employers of all sizes to reduce their largest expense - payroll. A suddenly popular option is an employee “furlough,” which is an unpaid leave of absence, as opposed to layoffs. Employers choosing to furlough employees typically do so with the hope that economic conditions will improve so that employees can return to work, to maintain goodwill and, if possible, continue certain employer-sponsored benefits such as health insurance. However, employers must take care to understand how furloughs work, what their legal obligations are and decide whether it is advantageous or not.