Employee Well-Being and the Post-Pandemic Return to the Office

In this episode of In the Breakroom, a podcast series on hot topics related to employment law, Bill Grob and Phillip Russell discuss President Joe Biden’s September 9, 2021, announcement of a strategy for combating the COVID-19 pandemic that calls on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to develop and implement a new emergency temporary standard (ETS). The speakers discuss the features that employers might expect from the anticipated ETS, including a requirement that employers with 100 or more employees mandate full vaccination or weekly COVID-19 testing of their employees, as well as who will pay for weekly testing. The speakers also address the “grave danger” standard required for OSHA to issue an ETS.

In this follow-up to their podcast on nontraditional employees, Jana Baker and Jim Paul discuss the application of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to volunteers and student interns, including medical residents. The speakers also address the interplay between the educational institutions and placement sites.

In this episode of our Diversity & Inclusion at Work series, Kimya Johnson and Daniella McGuigan discuss global concepts around respecting diverse populations, how to create respectful workplaces through and beyond COVID-19, and why it is important to do so. Guided by the Global Model Respectful Workplace Policy Template presented in the D&I Legal Surveys, Model Policy & Compliance Tools, they address key considerations for employers as they draft and deploy a global policy.