COVID-19

A nurse fills a syringe with a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at Stamford Hospital last month. Ned Gerard / Hearst Connecticut Media Get the COVID vaccine or you might be fired. The federal government has ruled that employers can require their workers to get the...

Earlier this month, Connecticut Education Commissioner Miguel A. Cardona stated that “we take very seriously the ADA requirements,” adding that Americans with Disabilities Act compliance was “non-negotiable.” Cardona was referring to whether school districts are...

Photo: Contributed Photo : Jessica A. Slippen In a typical year, cooler temps and shorter days mean one thing: Back to school. For working parents, back to school is somewhat of a reprieve, guaranteeing most at least a six-hour window of defined child-free work time....

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Gary Phelan interviewed in Fast Company Magazine article " ‘I feel devastated’: COVID-19 long-haulers fight for understanding from employers."

“My boss wants me to go back to the office. I am immunocompromised. What can I do? Do I have any legal protections?” In March, Connecticut implemented Gov. Ned Lamont’s executive order stating that to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus, all businesses needed to...

Positive coronavirus case reported at Kendall Elementary days before school set to begin A local attorney says school districts should be pushing back the start dates of school following a positive coronavirus case at a Norwalk school.

As office buildings and schools reopen, some adults 65 and older are forced to return to a work environment that carries a higher risk of exposure to COVID-19. Gary Phelan, who practices employment law in Westport as part of Mitchell & Sheahan, P.C., said he’s...

“You’re as young as you feel” is one of the most common clichés about getting older. Unfortunately, the novel coronavirus does not care about how old you feel. Older individuals have borne the brunt of COVID-19’s wrath. Part of the reason risk increases with age is...

Older employees and the workplace

Some of the rules for collecting unemployment compensation have changed amid the coronavirus pandemic. For employers, a degree of caution is needed when dealing with workers who are afraid to come back to the job. Employees must understand that a simple,...

Is COVID-19 a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act?[1] The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has so far resisted the invitation to answer that question. After observing that the question had been raised by a lot of people, EEOC senior...

As employers and employees navigate the new COVID-19 virtual workplace, perhaps the hardest hit are those working parents now forced to manage the demands of a workday as well as the demands of children at home adjusting to a virtual classroom. As a working mother on...

The CARES Act, passed on March 27th, affects employment through its extraordinary effect on Unemployment Compensation.  The new law is "Phase 3" of Congress's overall Coronavirus response, following  first, an $8.3B act funding research and development of a vaccine,...