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Watch Associate Alex Berke’s Q&A session delivered at the Tory Burch Foundation on May 27, 2020. Alex and Lenore Horton provided guidance for small businesses on reopening safely and communicating effectively with employees.

Americans, including a majority of Democrats and Republicans, believe that independent contractors, freelancers, and those working in the gig economy, such as ride-hail drivers and delivery people working for app-based services like Door Dash and Instacart deserve some of the same employment protections already given to salaried employees.

Our Firm is happy to have two Fordham Law students on board this summer. Please join us in welcoming Rafita Ahlam and Kacie Candela!

As we learn more about the virus, one thing that is increasingly clear is that many of the major outbreaks are occurring at the workplace, with significant hotspots at prisons, call centers, meat processing facilities, and warehouses where many people are crammed together in poorly ventilated areas. At the end of April, 66% of workers were not comfortable returning to the workplace.

Though media outlets, politicians and protestors all claim that these protests against shutdown represent the will of the working class, polls have repeatedly shown that the less income you have, the more likely you are to be concerned about infection.

The Families First Act stipulates that employers must give employee-parents whose children’s day care facilities or schools closed in response to coronavirus paid leave if they cannot work remotely. Lawsuits are already being filed relating to violations of this Act, and family responsibilities discrimination will be a growing field in the coming months.

Just as the coronavirus itself has not affected the general population proportionally, its economic consequences haven't either.

The NYS Unemployment Appeals Board is re-opening as of May 18. This is a welcome return of due process for the many people who have been denied UI who want to contest those denials and receive unemployment funds.

On Monday night, May 4, 2020, Governor Cuomo announced his plan to re-open New York State once PAUSE expires on May 15th. The plan is meant to “determine which regions allow what sectors to reopen and when.” Get the details here.

As US states begin to ease their shelter-in-place and lockdown orders, we are fast realizing, like other countries, that shutting down normal operations is much simpler than restarting them. Unlike sheltering in place, a return to public life is going to require significant resources and policies in place to curb potential for future outbreaks and ensure that workers and the public are safe when they go out.

Mounting research demonstrates that child care providers are facing a serious crisis, which will have long term implications for women’s rights and the workforce.

“Immunity passports”? “Antibody certificates”? As countries around the world consider widespread antibody or immunity testing as a precondition for normal, non-distanced life, many raise the prospect of “second class citizenship” based on COVID-19 immunity.