Effective November 16, 2022, non-governmental health care entities must offer eligible employees continued employment for at least four months following a change in control without any reduction in their wages and benefits – including paid time off, health care, retirement, and education benefits in accordance with Senate Bill No. 315 (the Law). Change in control includes sales, transfers, assignments, mergers, and reorganizations and is deemed to “occur on the date of execution of the document effectuating the change.”
How can health care employers use non-competes and other restrictive covenants to protect trade secrets? Attorneys Erik Weibust and Katherine Rigby explore the options available to employers, in an article for Law360.
On March 22, 2022, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that it had partially reopened the comment period for its permanent standard to protect health care and health care support workers from exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace.
As featured in #WorkforceWednesday: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an interim final rule outlining vaccine requirements for staff at Medicare- and Medicaid-certified providers and suppliers.
Attorney Frank Morris discusses the next steps for health care providers. In addition, covered employers should continue to monitor the recent litigation filed in the Eastern District of Missouri and the Western District of Louisiana seeking to permanently enjoin the CMS interim final rule.
See below for the video and podcast links. Visit ...
On August 26, 2021, the Public Health and Health Planning Council approved an emergency regulation requiring health care personnel to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The emergency regulation is effective immediately and will remain in effect for 90 days, subject to review and renewal.
The emergency regulation supersedes the Section 16 Order issued by the New York Department of Health (“DOH”) on August 18, 2021, which mandated the vaccine for personnel at general hospitals and nursing homes.
The emergency regulation expands the mandate to cover personnel at entities ...
Our colleagues Alaap Shah and Stuart Gerson of Epstein Becker Green have written an Expert Analysis on Law360 that will be of interest to our readers: "Health Cos. Must Prepare for Growing Ransomware Threat."
The following is an excerpt (see below to download the full version in PDF format):
Ransomware attacks have become big business, and they are on the rise. And entities in the health care and life sciences space have become primary targets of opportunity for attackers.
As the recent Colonial Pipeline Co. ransomware event illustrates, a small group of black hat hackers, living in ...
Only a few days remain before the enforcement delay that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) exercised due to COVID-19 will end and the agency will require certain payors to publish a Patient Access application programming interface (“API”) and a Provider Directory API under the requirements of the CMS Interoperability and Patient Access Final Rule. Starting on July 1, 2021, all health plans that offer Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and most Qualified Health Plans offered through the Federally-facilitated ...
Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) applications are powerful tools that already have been deployed by companies to improve business performance across the health care, manufacturing, retail, and banking industries, among many others. From largescale AI initiatives to smaller AI vendors, AI tools quickly are becoming a mainstream fixture in many industries and will likely infiltrate many more in the near future.
But are these companies also prepared to defend the use of AI tools should there be compliance issues at a later time? What should companies do before launching AI tools ...
Our colleagues Susan Gross Sholinsky, Genevieve M. Murphy-Bradacs, Ann Knuckles Mahoney, and Jenna D. Russell of Epstein Becker Green have recently published an Act Now Advisory that will be of interest to our readers: "Latest New York State Department of Labor Guidance Significantly Expands COVID-19 Sick Leave Obligations".
The following is an excerpt:
On January 20, 2021, the New York State Department of Labor (“NY DOL”) issued another round of guidance (“Guidance”) on the use of COVID-19 sick leave under the New York State COVID-19 Sick Leave Law (“Law” ...
Our colleagues Susan Gross Sholinsky, Ann Knuckles Mahoney, Jennifer L. Nutter, and Eduardo J. Quiroga of Epstein Becker Green have recently published an Act Now Advisory that will be of interest to our readers: "Roadmap to Compliance: Major Employment Laws Effective as of January 2021 and Beyond".
The following is an excerpt:
While state legislatures focused much-needed attention on pandemic-related legislation throughout most of 2020, many continued to alter their employment laws in significant ways, or simply had previously passed laws scheduled to take effect at the start ...
Our colleagues Maxine Neuhauser and Eric I. Emanuelson, Jr. of Epstein Becker Green have recently published an Act Now Advisory that will be of interest to our readers: "Remote Workforce or Not, New Jersey Employers Must Ensure Notices and Posters Remain Up to Date."
The following is an excerpt:
The year 2020 brought significant changes nationwide to how and where employees work and expanded the legal landscape. The expectations of employer compliance with employment law, however, remained unchanged. In New Jersey, for example, 2020 brought a package of legislation aimed at ...
Our colleagues Jennifer Barna, Scarlett L. Freeman, and Nathaniel M. Glasser of Epstein Becker Green have a new post on the Workforce Bulletin blog that will be of interest to our readers: "EEOC Updates COVID-19 Guidance on Employer Administered or Mandated Vaccinations."
The following is an excerpt:
As the first wave of COVID-19 vaccinations are being administered across the United States, employers are considering whether to mandate and/or administer the COVID-19 vaccine to employees. On December 16, 2020, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC” or ...
Our colleague Nathaniel M. Glasser and Jennifer Barna of Epstein Becker Green have co-authored an article in Bloomberg Law that will be of interest to our readers: "COVID-19 Vaccines and Workplace Challenges."
The following is an excerpt:
As COVID-19 vaccines become widely available, employers will face a critical set of challenges, ranging from whether they can—or will want to—mandate all or some employees get vaccinated, to what liability may attach to mandating vaccination, and even whether the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) could require a ...
As the number of COVID-19 cases in the State of New Jersey continues to grow, Governor Murphy has issued various executive orders aimed at combatting COVID-19. On April 1, 2020 the Governor signed Executive Order 112 (“EO 112”), which focuses on the health care industry with a goal of increasing the number of health care workers responding to COVID-19 in New Jersey. EO 112, among others things:
- Allows the Department of Law and Public Safety, Division of Consumer Affairs (DCA) to reactivate the license of any health care professional previously licensed in New Jersey who retired ...
The United States is in the midst of an unusually lethal flu season, and health experts agree that despite inconsistencies in their effectiveness, flu shots are among the best ways to fight the spread of the flu. A recent holding from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals provides some good news for health care employers who require that their patient-facing employees receive flu shots, making it more difficult for employees to claim a religious exemption.
Courts have held that health care employers may require their patient-facing employees to be vaccinated against a number of ...
Perspectives on Health Care and Life Sciences advisory by Bob Atlas, President of EBG Advisors, Inc.
Following is an excerpt:
The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have both passed their tax reform bills and will now confer toward creating a unified bill that both chambers can support, and that President Trump will sign. The two bills differ in some key respects, but their implications for health care are already rather clear. Some aspects of the legislation explicitly touch health care, while other effects would be indirect. Overall, it appears that most of the changes would ...
On October 26, 2017, President Trump directed the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (“Secretary”) to declare a National Public Health Emergency on the opioid epidemic. While the President offered few details regarding how his administration will address the challenge of treating patients struggling with opioid addiction, a previous statement from the White House indicated that the Administration plans to expand access to treatment via telemedicine and more specifically, remote prescribing of the necessary controlled substances used to treat ...
In the new issue of Take 5, our colleagues examine five employment, labor, and workforce management issues that will continue to be reviewed and remain top of mind for employers under the Trump administration:
Read the full Take 5 online or download ...Blog Editors
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