Over the last two weeks or so, several federal courts have issued nationwide injunctions prohibiting the U.S. government from going forward with mandatory vaccination (or vax and test) rules that have been implemented.

First, it was the Fifth Circuit that stayed the OSHA “Vax or Test” ETS. That case and others around the country have

Last week, I deleted the Twitter app off my iPhone as a bit of an experiment.  I’ve done this a few times before — but the start of the pandemic back in early 2020 had me going full on Twitter since then.  After all, if it’s important, it’s on Twitter, right?

Well, not exactly.  In fact, when I was sick for a few days, I kept turning to Twitter and finding…not much that merited the visit to the app — just boredom.  (Never fear though, I can still access it on my computer browser.)  Nevertheless, I wondered how much I’d miss if I just took it of my phone.

The first real answer came on Friday when news came of the Fifth Circuit’s beatdown decision to stay enforcement of the OSHA vax or test Emergency Temporary Standard.  Turns out you can hear about it the same time as others even without being on Twitter.

But what happened next was interesting for me — nothing. Without being on Twitter, I missed the immediate reactions, overreactions, snark, and, sure, some actual insights.

And that’s ok.

We are entering a time during this pandemic when the changes are happening more incrementally and slowly.  Perhaps we are headed for a modest 5th wave here, for example.  That might require employers to adjust on the fly again.  But speed isn’t everything right now.

Thus, with the luxury of a few more days to ponder and think, where are we now on the OSHA rule?
Continue Reading Court Stays OSHA ETS, But We Know All Too Well It’s Not the Last Word

Being sick over the last week brought me a lot of unexpected “gifts”.  Sure, there were the forced afternoon naps (oh, who’s kidding, even a morning nap too) .  The watching of “The Price is Right” at least once (or was it twice?). The early start of a post-pandemic diet.

But also the “gift” of

UPDATED

Various blogs have started to link to this one today after AIG released a white paper to support its assertion that it was required to make payments to various executives and employees over the last week.

It turns out that the retention plan at issue is to be construed under Connecticut’s wage and hour laws.  As bloggers and commentators will quickly

A few months ago, I reported on the District Court’s decision in Amara v. CIGNA, an important class-action case on ERISA retirement benefits and on alleged misrepresentations made by the Company about retirement benefits.  Over the last few months, then, the court was asked to consider the issue of what is appropriate relief from the