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When the Unemployment Insurance Advisory Council last met on 21 October 2021, not much was decided or even reckoned with.

Other than the trust fund balance being $963 million and approval of a draft UI bill, LRB 4438 (unchanged from what was introduced in the September 2021 meeting), nothing much was discussed or decided. Council members even decided to cancel their remaining meetings for November and December.

The big news was that Mark Reihl, UI division head from before…
Continue Reading Council meetings in the new year — January 2022

On January 12, 2022, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) announced the launch of a new initiative, Hiring Initiative to Reimagine Equity (HIRE), to reimagine hiring practices to advance equal employment opportunity. The goal of this initiative is to identify innovative and evidence-based practices that will help workers from underrepresented communities gain access to good jobs and help employers utilize their talent across America’s workforce.…
Continue Reading Government Agencies Launch Initiative to Address Hiring and Recruiting Challenges

A class action challenging the SSDI eligibility ban in Wisconsin that prevents disabled workers from receiving regular unemployment benefits has been filed. Note: A history of the SSDI eligibility ban in Wisconsin is available here.

With the end of PUA benefits after the week ending 4 September 2021, regular unemployment benefits are again the only option available to disabled workers in Wisconsin. The Department had previously concluded that PUA benefits were available to SSDI recipients because of the …
Continue Reading SSDI recipients should now apply for regular unemployment benefits

On January 13, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a split decision (found here) staying the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Vaccination-or-Test Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) that would require employers with 100 or more employees to either impose a mandatory vaccination policy or, alternatively, mandate that unvaccinated workers wear a face covering while at work and be subject to a COVID-19 test every seven days. The decision was issued per curiam by the Court…
Continue Reading Employment LawScene Alert: U.S. Supreme Court Issues Stay of OSHA’s Vaccination-or-Test Rule

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On January 13, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States issued two decisions addressing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) and the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) vaccination mandate.

The Supreme Court put the OSHA ETS on hold, finding the ETS was more akin to a general public health measure rather than an “occupational safety or health standard.” The stay will remain in place pending a review of…
Continue Reading Supreme Court Stays OSHA ETS, Upholds CMS Vaccination Mandate

The U.S. Supreme Court just issued a decision blocking the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Emergency Temporary Standard that would require employers with 100 or more employees to impose either a mandatory vaccination policy or, alternatively, mandate that unvaccinated workers be required to wear a face covering while at work and be subject to a COVID-19 test every seven days.  The Court’s three liberal Justices, Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor all dissented. This is a breaking story…
Continue Reading U.S. Supreme Court Halts OSHA’s Vaccination-or-Test Emergency Temporary Standard

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) vaccine and testing emergency temporary standard (ETS) has been a whirlwind since the beginning of November, with stays being put in place and stays being dissolved by different courts.

It is unknown as to whether the OSHA vaccine and testing ETS will survive, but if the Supreme Court rules in its favor, employers will have to be ready to implement the OSHA ETS requirements.

One of those requirements is verification of employee…
Continue Reading Determining an Employee’s Vaccine Status

As you know, in early November, OSHA announced an emergency temporary standard (“ETS”) which affects employers with 100 or more employees. The ETS directs these covered employers to develop, implement, and enforce a written mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy—or to adopt a written policy requiring employees to either choose to be vaccinated or to be tested regularly and wear a face covering at work.

The ETS was immediately challenged, and within a few days, the ETS was halted nation-wide by…
Continue Reading OSHA’s Vaccine or Test Rule Remains in Limbo Following Arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court

On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order (found here) that it would hold a special session to hear arguments on OSHA’s vaccine-or-test rule that mandates employers with 100 or more employees require its employees to be fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus or be subject to weekly tests. The Court issued its order in response to emergency applications for an administrative stay in response to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit’s 2-1 decision…
Continue Reading Employment LawScene Alert: U.S. Supreme Court to Hold Special Session on January 7, 2022 to Review Federal Vaccine Mandates

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The League’s second challenge to unjust voter purges in Wisconsin seeks to reinstate voters before 2022 midterm elections.
Today, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, represented by Fair Elections Center, Law Forward Inc., and Stafford Rosenbaum LLP, filed suit in federal court to reinstate more than 31,000 registered Wisconsin voters who were purged from the voter rolls in July 2021. These voters were not provided notice of the potential deactivation or the deadline to take action to avoid…
Continue Reading League of Women Voters of Wisconsin Files Lawsuit to Reactivate 31,854 Voters

By Sally A. Piefer
In early November, the Biden administration announced additional steps it was taking to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) announced a new emergency temporary standard (“ETS”) which it claimed would “protect more than 84 million workers from the spread of the coronavirus on the job.”
Under this ETS, employers with 100 or more employees (as of November 4, 2021) were directed to develop, implement, and enforce a written…
Continue Reading OSHA’s VACCINE OR TEST RULE IS BACK IN PLAY

On Friday, December 17, 2021, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit lifted the stay of OSHA’s emergency temporary standard (ETS) mandating COVID-19 vaccinations in the workplace or, alternatively, requiring unvaccinated employees to submit to weekly COVID-19 tests. The stay was originally issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on November 5, 2021, when the Fifth Circuit held that OSHA had exceeded its statutory and constitutional authorities when it…
Continue Reading Employment LawScene Alert: Sixth Circuit Lifts Stay of OSHA’s Vaccination Mandate–OSHA Follows by Announcing Enforcement Policy

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Lindner & Marsack, S.C., announced today that Attorney Samuel Draver has joined the firm as an Associate on their Worker’s Compensation Defense team. Draver will split his time between the Milwaukee and Madison offices of Lindner & Marsack.
Prior to joining Lindner & Marsack, Draver worked for other Milwaukee law firms in the areas of worker’s compensation defense, labor law and personal injury.
“Sam will be a great asset to our widely recognized worker’s compensation defense practice,” says Firm…
Continue Reading LINDNER & MARSACK, S.C., WELCOMES ATTORNEY SAMUEL DRAVER TO WORKER’S COMPENSATION DEFENSE TEAM

By: David Keating
Throughout the pandemic, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) has continuously updated its COVID-19 Guidance to provide employers with assistance on issues arising under the antidiscrimination laws that it enforces.  Yesterday, the EEOC added a new section to clarify under what circumstances COVID-19 may be considered a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
EEOC’s new questions and answers focus broadly on COVID-19 and the definition of disability under…
Continue Reading EEOC EXPANDS ITS COVID-19 GUIDANCE CLARIFYING WHEN COVID-19 MAY BE A DISABILITY

On December 2, President Biden announced a nine-point action plan to combat COVID-19 as the United States heads into the winter months and with the emergence of a new variant, Omicron.  One of the actions announced calls for the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and the Treasury to issue guidance by January 15, 2022 to clarify that individuals who purchase over-the-counter COVID-19 at-home diagnostic tests may seek reimbursement from their group health plan or health insurance issuer…
Continue Reading At-Home COVID-19 Tests Soon to be Covered by Employer Health Plans

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On December 14, 2021, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) published additional guidance addressing when an individual infected with COVID-19 may qualify as disabled under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The publication expands on the EEOC’s September 2021 guidance regarding whether “long-haul” COVID-19 is a disability under the ADA.

Title I of the ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in the workplace. An employee may be disabled, for purposes of the ADA, in one of three…
Continue Reading EEOC Provides Additional Guidance on When COVID-19 May Qualify as a Disability