C-Level Law

On Thursday, February 10, 2022, the Senate passed what is being heralded as a landmark bill ending forced arbitration of workplace sexual harassment and assault claims.

Can an employer provide different benefits to different employees? For example could it offer the C-Suite better health insurance benefits than the rank and file? Or, could it offer healthcare insurance to full-time employees but not part-time?  

The beginning of a new year is a good time to review your employment policies and practices. Here are some to-dos that should help you stay ahead of the game in 2022.

On March 1, 2022, Colorado Senate Bill 21-271, approved on July 6, 2021, goes into effect. While the overall goal of the bill is to reform sentencing provisions related to misdemeanors and petty offenses, it also made the violation of a number of statues potential criminal infractions.

On November 12, 2021, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, issued a stay of OSHA’s vaccine mandate pending its review of a lawsuit filed by a coalition of employers challenging the mandate. Other similar lawsuits were filed in other jurisdictions.

As anticipated, the publication of the COVID vaccine Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) was greeted by a flurry of lawsuits.

Angie Wideman-Powell, VP of People at ClearCompany, joins Colin Walker to discuss how varying employment laws across the country affect companies with operations in different states and tips for navigating these rules. 

One of the interesting things about employment law is that it often intersects with other fields of law. Paul Janda, of our Litigation Department, brought to my attention a new Colorado law, which is well-known to litigators, but not so much to employment attorneys. In today’s post, Paul tells us about how this new law could affect employers. 

In the last blog post (video), John Aplin, an experienced member and chair of many boards of directors, talked about the challenges faced by national and regional employers from differing state employment laws. This is often referred to as a “patchwork” of employment laws.

Colin Walker and John Aplin, who has served on over 40 boards, discuss how employment law intersects with boards of directors. In this conversation they cover management concerns, how to handle romantic relationships in a board setting, board liability, and when to reach out to your employment lawyer for advice. 

Colin Walker and Adam McCoy, HR Leader at Cetera Financial Group, discuss best practices for terminations. Hear what you should consider from an in-house human resources perspective as well as an employment law perspective in the video below.

The 2021 Colorado Legislative Session was interesting and full of drama.