Workplace Safety

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has resources to help employers and workers prepare for and respond to coronavirus in the workplace.

• OSHA Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19- Developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to help employers respond in the event of coronavirus in the workplace.
• Temporary OSHA Guidance on Respiratory Protection Standard- This guidance provides suggestions and options to help increase the availability of N95 filtering facepiece respirators for healthcare providers.
• COVID-19 Webpage- Provides infection prevention information specifically for employers and workers.

Wages, Hours and Leave

The Wage and Hour Division is providinginformation on common issues employers and workers face when responding to COVID-19, including the effects on wages and hours worked under the Fair Labor Standards Act and job-protected leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Unemployment Insurance Flexibilities

NOTE:Check with your state's unemployment insurance programregarding the rules in your state.

The Employment and Training Administration announcednew guidance outlining state flexibilities in administering their unemployment insurance programs to assist Americans affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Under the guidance, federal law permits significant flexibility for states to amend their laws to provide unemployment insurance benefits in multiple scenarios related to COVID-19. For example, federal law allows states to pay benefits where:

• An employer temporarily ceases operations due to COVID-19, preventing employees from coming to work;
• An individual is quarantined with the expectation of returning to work after the quarantine is over; and
• An individual leaves employment due to a risk of exposure or infection or to care for a family member.

In addition, federal law does not require an employee to quit in order to receive benefits due to the impact of COVID-19.

Learn how to file for unemployment insurance benefits.

Support for Dislocated Workers and States

The Employment and Training Administration announced theavailability of up to $100 million in National Health Emergency Dislocated Worker Grants to help states, territories, and tribal governments respond to the workforce-related impacts of COVID-19.

Job Corps Students

The Employment and Training Administration announced that it is initiating abreak for students at all 121 Job Corps centers from March 16 through April 14, 2020. The spring break period may be extended beyond April 14, 2020.

Injured Federal Workers

The Office of Workers' Compensation Programs has publishedguidance for federal employees outlining Federal Employees' Compensation Act coverage as it relates to the novel coronavirus.

Federal Contractors

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has issued aNational Interest Exemption to facilitate response efforts for COVID-19.

Foreign Labor Certification

The Office of Foreign Labor Certification'sfrequently asked questions regarding COVID-19.

Flexibilities for Mine Operators

The Mine Safety and Health Administration will work with mine operators when it comes to the following recertifications:

• Annual refresher training certification (30 CFR Part 46)
• Surface and underground annual refresher training certification (30 CFR Part 48)
• Certified person; sampling (30 CFR 70/71/90.202)
• Certified person; maintenance and calibration (30 CFR 70/71/90.203)

Exemptions to recertifications will not be granted; however, their due dates will be extended by at least the time the government is operating under the President's emergency declaration.

Please note: This exception does not apply to new miner training. New miners must be trained before beginning work. Once the Emergency Declaration is lifted, mine operators should work with their respective district offices to ensure that all certifications are conducted in a timely manner.

Supporting Workforce Needs in the Agricultural Sector

The U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Department of Agriculture announced apartnership to facilitate the identification of domestic and foreign workers that may be available to fulfill critical U.S. agricultural sector workforce needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. You are a management level employee at a major retailer that is not considered essential relating to the pandemic.Therefore, all of your retail stores have been closed in Pennsylvania.You have been asked to create guidance for your stores when they are allowed to reopen.

Answer the following questions:

1. What laws could be at issue when you open the stores?There are some new laws that have just been enacted because of this pandemic.
2. How can you keep your employees safe? Should any personal protection be used?
3. What questions should you be asking employees who report for work?Should there be any medical screening or testing?

What has changed at work in the year since sexual harassment allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein turned the words "me" and "too" into an unforgettable hashtag and rallying cry for a generation?

A few examples: McDonald's workers walked off the job in a demonstration aimed atfighting harassment in their restaurants.Powerful men, from celebrity chef Mario Batali to CBS CEO Les Moonves continue to be purged frompositions for allegedpredatory behavior. Laws have been passed in places like California and New York state aimed at training and awareness. Corporations have alteredpolicies, including Microsoft's move to allow employeeswho previously had contracts with arbitration clausesto seek remedies in open court.

But there has also been a backlash: complaints that the movement has gone astray, putting men at risk of punishments that go too far;concern among human resources and other experts that women may have a harder time landing certain positions as some powerful men claimthey are afraid to hold one-on-one meetings with female colleagues;women of color and those who earn low wages who have complained that the movement hasn't adequately addressed their concerns.And as the first wave of cases filed in the #MeToo era have their day incourt, it remains to be seen if the manyfighting such mistreatmentfar from the spotlightwill ultimately get justice.

"I'm not seeing any easier path for women to get to legal remedies as a result of the #MeToo movement,'' saysLaura Noble,an attorney who works with the Time's Up Legal Defense Fundand whose North Carolina-based firm had a 500 percentincrease in calls about sexual harassment in the last three months of 2017. One of the most fraught flash pointsof the #MeToo period occurred last week, when Christine Blasey Ford told the SenateJudiciary Committee that she hadbeen sexually assaulted by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh when they were teenagers.

"We certainly have moved into a new era,'' says Tarana Burke, who created #MeToo more than a decade before it burst into the national consciousnessand is considered the founder of the #MeToo movement.

"Amoment doesn't last for a year, and it doesn't influence policy and pop culture,'' Burke continued. "We will never not know about the depths of sexual violence, and we'll never not have language to talk about our experiencewith sexual violence, because of #MeToo.''

#MeToo has reverberated in other ways. In January, Hollywood luminaries launched Time's Up, an organization whose Legal Defense Fund has raised more than $22 millionto assist men and womenwho've been sexually harassed or violated on the job. As of last week, it hadreceived 3,557 requests for assistance.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Thursdaythat preliminary data showed sexual harassment complaints filed with it this fiscal year rose by more than 12 percent as compared to that same period in 2017.Additionally, sexual harassment claims were part of 41 lawsuits brought by the EEOC during this fiscal year, a more than 50 percent uptick in legal actions addressing that type of abuse as compared to the previous fiscal year.

And lawmakers from New York to California have green lit legislation that includes measures to makeanti-harassment training mandatoryand barsemployers from compellingstaffers to sign waivers that block them from pursuing their harassers.Although a USA TODAY examination found thatsince #MeToo began,elected officials passed261laws that directly addressed topics championed by the movement, just a slight uptick from238inthe year prior.

But there has also been an adverse reaction, with critics contending that the movement haspainteda spectrum of behavior, from a lewd joke to outright assault, with the same punitive brush.A Pew Research Center poll conducted in February and March revealed that51 percent of Americans believe the increased focus on sexual harassment and assault has made it more difficult for men to know how to interact with women at work.

Others say that women of color and low-wage workers who are most susceptible to sexual harassment have been relegated to the sidelines, their stories largely ignored by media fixated on victims and perpetrators who are affluent,famous and white. In December, Microsoft said it was getting rid of the arbitration clause in sexual harassment and gender discrimination cases for the fewer than 1 percentof its 125,000 employeeswho had such provisions in their employment agreements. That same month, Facebook made its anti-sexual-harassment policy public.

And while the hotel industry had begun to take steps to combat harassment beforethe rise of #MeToo, in September, theAmerican Hotel & Lodging Association and several major companies including Hilton, Marriott and Hyatt announceda pledgeto ensure hotel workers throughout the U.S. have safety devices nearbyto ward off sexual assault and other crimes by 2020.

''Every industry should be looking at themselves and asking, 'What more can we do?' " says Katherine Lugar, AHLA's president and CEO, noting that cultural expectations have changed, as has technology.

Businesses are in some ways moving at a faster clip than lawmakers, says Joan Fife, a labor and employment litigator and partner with the firm Winston & Strawn.

"I'm sure that many people would have expected there to be more prompt legislation passed and signed into law on both the state and the federal level,'' saysFife."I think that companies have responded much more quickly. ... Going forwardvoluntarily, without waiting for the law to change, that's howbest practices are created.'' However, there has been a push on the legislative front as well. New York state approved legislation in March that requiresall state contractors as of Jan. 1to submit a declaration that they have a sexual harassment policy that adheres to at leastminimum criteriaand that they have trained all their staff members. All public and private employers must also have such a policy in placeand give a copy of it along with yearly training to every worker as of Oct. 9.

California haspassed a handful of bills inspired or spurred by the #MeToo movement. They include legislation that says before an employer in the entertainment industry can receive a permit to hire a minor, underage performers between the ages of 14 and 17,and their parent,mustundergo training in how to prevent sexual harassmentand be told of where they can go to report such an offense. Another new law will require lobbyists to get training on the state's anti-harassment policies.

A few years ago,AlyssaMilanopopularized a movement (created a decade before by the activistTaranaBurke)with "#metoo" on Twitter by explaining her experience with sexual harassment.What she found outwas she was not alone.

Answer the following questions

1.What law prohibits sexual harassment in the workplace?

2.What are the classifications of sexual harassment and how are they proven?

3.What Policies and Procedures should be in place in the workplace to avoid sexual harassment?

4.Have you noticed any change where you work since the beginning of the "metoo" movement?If so, tell us what has changed.