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While workers may be limited in their activities during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, vacation remains an important benefit for many. However, with COVID-19 precautions varying across the states, employers have more interest in where there employees spend their free time than in the past, and the pandemic presents new considerations for both workers who want to take vacation and their employers.

Pursuant to an interim rule published earlier today by the Office of Personnel Management effective October 1, 2020, agencies must grant twelve weeks of paid parental leave to employees in connection with the birth of an employee’s son or daughter or the placement of a son or daughter with an employee for adoption or foster care.

In a major rebuke to the current, anti-union Federal Labor Relations Authority (“FLRA”), on July 31, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed an FLRA decision that had reversed an arbitrator’s determination that a federal agency had violated its collective bargaining agreement when it cancelled the agreement.

On August 3, 2020, the Southern District of New York concluded that parts of the Department of Labor’s Final Rule implementing the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) were overly broad and, therefore, invalid.

On August 3, 2020, the EEOC announced that it would begin sending so-called “right-to-sue” notices again after suspending that activity on March 21, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On June 8, 2020, U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield approved a $27.7 settlement agreement in a case brought by 3,867 current and former School Safety Agents (SSAs) for the City of New York alleging unpaid overtime. The SSAs are members of the Teamsters Local 237 Union.

On May 27, 2020, D.C. Mayor Bowser signed the COVID-19 Support Emergency Amendment Act (“CSEA”), which temporarily amended the D.C. Family Medical Leave Act. The amendment allows an employee who has worked at least 30 days for any employer to take up to 16 weeks of unpaid COVID-19 leave.

On July 15, 2020 the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) General Counsel’s Office (GCO) published five “advice memos,” detailing advisory attorneys’ answers to novel legal questions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic posed by field offices.

The Department of Labor’s Employment Training Administration (“ETA”) informed states on July 21, 2020 that workers who refuse unsafe job offers may be able to collect expanded unemployment benefits under the CARES Act’s Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (“PUA”).

The Department of Labor (“DOL”) published guidance for workers and employers on July 20, 2020, further detailing how the protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”), the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”), and the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”) impact workplaces during the on-going coronavirus pandemic.