With COVID-19 cases again on the rise thanks to the BA.5 subvariant, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) has issued new guidance that, for the first time since the onset of the pandemic, places some restrictions on an employer’s unlimited ability to test employees for COVID-19. On July 12, 2022, the EEOC updated its ongoing…

After the past few years have heightened feelings of stress and isolation for so many people, and with the seemingly continuous news cycle of incidents of mass violence, mental health has taken a much-needed place in the forefront of the national conversation lately.  Recently, the Department of Labor reminded employers that mental health affects employees…

Once an employee requests an accommodation, the employer has a duty to engage in an “interactive process” to try to determine whether the employer can accommodate the employee’s disability.  With that in mind, employers should take note of this recent decision from the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers Tennessee), which provides that…

While the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is hopefully behind us, the disease still impacts the employment landscape and likely will continue to do so for some time. Out of the millions of people who have had COVID in the United States, it is currently estimated that 10-30 percent will develop residual symptoms or medical…

Butler Snow attorneys Robin Banck Taylor and W. Mackin Johnson were recently interviewed on the latest episode of the Employment Law Alliance’s Employment Matters Podcast. In this episode, we discuss two recent legislative updates in Mississippi, including a bill banning workplace vaccine mandates for public employers, as well as the state’s first Equal Pay Act.

Mississippi joins the list of states limiting public employer COVID-19 vaccine mandates. On April 22, 2022, Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill banning public institutions and agencies from discriminating against people based on their COVID-19 vaccination status or whether the person has an immunity passport.[1] The new law prohibits state and local government agencies…

On April 20, 2022, Governor Tate Reeves signed the “Mississippi Equal Pay for Equal Work Act.” The new law, which takes effect on July 1, prohibits an employer from paying one employee less than another employee of the opposite sex for equal work. To be considered “equal,” the work must require equal skill, education, effort,…