New poster from OSHA outlines COVID-19 infection prevention measures:  OSHA has issued a new poster outlining steps that all workplaces can take to reduce the risk of exposure to Coronavirus, including 10 infection prevention measures that every employer can implement to protect workers’ safety and health. Safety measures include:  encouraging sick workers to stay home; establishing flexible worksites and staggered work shifts; discouraging workers from using other workers’ phones, desks, and other work equipment; and using Environmental Protection Agency-approved cleaning chemicals with label claims against the coronavirus. The new poster is available for download in English or Spanish.  Additional information about workplace safety is available on OSHA’s coronavirus webpage, which is updated frequently. Source:  CCH 4/9/20

EEOC suspends sending out right to sue letters: EEOC has temporarily paused closing its investigations during the current COVID-19 pandemic, and also suspended the issuance of right-to-sue letters. The agency had quietly taken steps beginning on March 21, 2020 to safeguard charging parties’ rights during the pandemic. According to published reports, EEOC chose to publicize that it has suspended closing investigations of charges or issuing right-to-sue letters unless requested by a charging party following the agency’s receipt of a letter by more than 80 employee advocates. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, employees have 90 days in which to file a lawsuit in federal district court after they receive a right-to-sue letter from the EEOC. Although the EEOC has not published guidance for employees of private employers, it has provided updated guidance for federal agencies and their employees. For employers that typically monitor the 90-day period following the issuance of a right-to-sue letter to determine whether unresolved EEOC charges and investigations will result in litigation, the EEOC’s suspension extends the period of uncertainty for employers to know whether they will face litigation claims on these pending EEOC matters.  Source: Fortney Scott 4/8/20

EEOC updates guidance:  The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today posted an updated and expanded technical assistance publication addressing questions arising under the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Laws related to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The publication, “What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws” expands on a previous publication that focused on the ADA and Rehabilitation Act, and adds questions-and-answers to respond to common inquiries.  In response to inquiries from the public, the EEOC has provided resources on its website related to the pandemic in an employment context.  The agency will continue to monitor developments and provide assistance to the public as needed.  Source:  EEOC 4/9/20

New H-1B tool has plenty of glitches: Users of a new U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) electronic registration system, which allows employers to apply for H-1B visas for the 2021 fiscal year, have reported a number of technical glitches, and some say their registrations were incorrectly denied for being duplicate registrations.  News of the denied registrations was reported April 2 by Forbes, which cited in part a client alert issued by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). In an email, Diane Rish, AILA's associate director of government relations, told HR Dive that USCIS had since informed AILA that the denied registrations were properly identified and invalidated, but she said AILA would continue to investigate the issue. Rish noted AILA members experienced other issues with the USCIS system, including blank screens, registrations simultaneously showing up as both "in progress" and "submitted," and incorrect notifications that an attorney was not eligible to practice law.  Source:  HR Dive 4/8/20

NLRB updates election rules:  The NLRB finalized three amendments to Part 103 of its Rules and Regulations, which the board asserts will protect workers’ rights: (1) NLRB’s blocking charge policy, (2) the voluntary recognition policy, and (3) Section 9(a) Recognition in the Construction Industry. Most important for purposes of this space is the new blocking charge rule—pausing of a union election when an unfair labor practice charge is filed—which would replace the current policy with either a vote-and-count or a vote-and-impound procedure. According to the NLRB, “[e]lections would no longer be blocked by pending unfair labor practice charges, but the ballots would be either counted or impounded . . . until the charges are resolved.” NLRB Chairman John Ring and members Marvin Kaplan and Bill Emanuel each voted in favor of the final rule. The five-member board’s two Democratic seats are currently vacant. Additionally, as Seyfarth detailed, despite the pandemic, the NLRB announced it would not extend temporary suspension of elections and will instead resume the processing of NLRB-conducted elections on Monday, April 6th.  Source: Seyfarth Shaw 4/3/20

Do your employees trust HR?  One-fifth of workers don't trust HR, and nearly a third (30%) actively avoid going to HR with problems, according to a new survey of more than 500 employees and 300 HR professionals conducted by Zenefits' Workest. Of the workers who avoid going to HR, 35% said it's because they don't trust HR to help, and 31% said they feared retaliation. Some of the reluctance may be due to a negative perception of HR or their employers overall; 23% of respondents said they had witnessed or experienced "poor HR, hurtful management, or discrimination." 38% of employee respondents felt that HR did not equally enforce company policies across all employees; 18% of that group said they believed managers received special treatment.  Most of the HR respondents said that fewer than 30% of complaints they received in the last two years resulted in any disciplinary action. According to a Workest blog post about the survey, "Having less than a third of cases result in disciplinary action led employees to wonder — if they bring complaints forward, will anything even result?"  One benefit of the current crisis is that HR has a time for resetting relationships.  One to one meetings or assisting in a variety of programs to ease the burdens currently experienced by the workforce will go a long way.  Source:  HR Dive 4/2/20