On Friday, March 27, 2020, the President signed into law the CARES Act, which contains $376 billion in relief for American workers and small businesses. In addition to traditional SBA funding programs, the CARES Act established several new temporary programs to address the COVID-19 outbreak. Am...
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos released a statement yesterday that she is not recommending Congress pass any additional waiver authority concerning the Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) and Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Educa...
Employees often base their claims of discrimination, retaliation, violation of public policy, whistleblower protection, or other workplace statutory claim on the termination of employment, claiming that the termination was the “adverse employment action” that violated the employee's rights. When...
By Cindy M. Cieslak & Rauchell Beckford-Anderson On April 20, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for certification filed by Richard Natofsky seeking clarification regarding the standard of causation in disability discrimination claims made pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities A...
By Cindy Cieslak and Rauchell Beckford-Anderson On April 17, 2020, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) provided an updated and expanded technical assistance publication on questions relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, including disability and medical exams; confidentiality of medi...
By Rauchell Beckford-Anderson & Cindy M. Cieslak Over the past few weeks, there have been several orders and other guidance issued by federal and state agencies regarding best practices for employers to protect employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, which are summarized here. CDC Guidance In res...
By Andrew B.F. Carnabuci The Connecticut Commission of Human Right and Opportunities (the “CHRO”), the administrative agency charged with the enforcement of Connecticut's employment discrimination laws, announced on April 8, 2020 several new orders regarding its operation during the present publi...
On April 9, 2020, Governor Lamont issued Executive Order 7W, which, inter alia, clarifies municipal tax relief ordered in Executive Order 7S, and relieves employers of charges to their experience accounts of contributing employers whose employees have had to file unemployment claims as a result o...
On April 7, 2020, Governor Ned Lamont expanded his prior executive orders in Executive Order 7V to require the Commissioner of Economic and Community Development, in consultation with the Commissioner of Public Health, to issue measures for workplaces in essential businesses to reduce the risk ...
Given the spread of COVID-19, on March 25, 2020, Governor Lamont issued Executive Order 7M. This Executive Order affects municipalities in the following two ways: Mandatory statutory filing requirements for appeals before the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission (FOIC) are suspen...
On March 27, 2020, the U.S. President signed into law the CARES Act. This legislation provides 2 trillion dollars of emergency assistance and health care response for certain individuals, families, and businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act, expands unemployment compensation...
Given the spread of COVID-19, on March 14, 2020, Governor Lamont issued Executive Order 7B suspending in-person open meeting requirements under Connecticut's Freedom of Information Act. While in-person public access is suspended, public meetings can be held remotely by conference call, video conf...
On March 18, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) which creates two new emergency paid leave requirements in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. “The Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSLA), entitles certain employees to take up to two week...
On March 31, 2020, Governor Ned Lamont Issued an Executive Order (Executive Order 7R) requiring school districts to continue to employ or restore to employment if already laid off, and pay school staff who are directly employed by the local or regional board of education, including but not limite...
As this country prepares for the impact of pandemic COVID-19 and potential workplace shutdowns, the guidance and protocol appear to change minute-to-minute. The U.S. Department of Labor, EEOC, OSHA and CDC have issued recent guidance on workplace matters. We thought it prudent to streamline som...
As employers continue to evaluate operations amidst the COVID-19 outbreak and quickly changing recommendations and protocols, the U.S. House and Senate passed legislation (“Families First Coronavirus Response Act,” H.R. 2601), which was ultimately signed by the President on March 18, 2020, to pro...
The Department of Labor recently considered the question of whether the employees of a health district in a particular county in Ohio must be aggregated for purposes of determining eligibility under the FMLA for the health district employees, and determined that the health district was a separate...
By: Michael J. Rose, Robin B. Kallor, Melinda A. Powell, Cindy M. Cieslak and Rauchell A. Beckford-Anderson During this year's legislative sessions, the Connecticut General Assembly passed multiple laws impacting employers, some of which are specific to public employers and many of which becom...
On August 8, 2019, the United States Department of Labor issued an opinion letter (FMLA 2019-2-A) concluding that where a child has a serious health condition as defined by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which also qualifies the child to an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) pursuant t...
Rose Kallor, LLP is pleased to announce that Firm partners, Michael Rose and Robin Kallor, have been named to the 2020 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America©, a publication that has become universally regarded as a definitive guide to legal excellence. Michael Rose has been recognized by Best La...
On May 28, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Nieves, et al. v. Bartlett, that generally, a claim for retaliatory arrest based upon protected speech fails unless the individual who was arrested can demonstrate that there was no probable cause to arrest him or her. However, the majority opinion ...
Rose Kallor is pleased to announce that two of its attorneys will assume leadership roles in various sections of the Connecticut Bar Association during the upcoming Bar Year. Cindy M. Cieslak has been elected to serve as Chair-Elect of the Connecticut Bar Association Young Lawyers Section for the...
Last week, the Connecticut General Assembly passed the most generous paid family and medical leave in the United States. This bill creates the Family and Medical Leave Insurance (FMLI) program to provide wage replacement benefits to certain employees taking leave for reasons allowed under the sta...
On May 17, 2019, the Connecticut Senate voted in favor of House Bill No. 5004, as amended by House Amendment Schedule A, An Act Increasing the Minimum Fair Wage (“the Act”). The Act was favorably voted out of the Connecticut House of Representatives on May 9, 2019. It is anticipated that Governor...
Recently, Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act was amended to clarify and add additional protections to workers who are pregnant, undergo childbirth or due to pregnancy related conditions (i.e. lactation or other conditions resulting from pregnancy or childbirth). The CFEPA, which covers thr...