News & Insights

As the school year begins to wind down, many school transportation contractors are already making preparations for next school year. It is no question that school transportation contractors are continuing to feel the effects of the nationwide school bus driver shortage, and so being able to secure drivers and ensure a fully operational staff at the start of the 2022-2023 school year is a primary concern. The summer months provide school transportation contractors with a great opportunity to eval...

Despite the Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Act (the “PMMA”), being passed over five (5) years ago, many Pennsylvania employers face uncertainty when addressing employees or applicants who are medical marijuana cardholders. The laws around marijuana are quickly evolving with recent court decisions, and recreational marijuana laws are becoming more common in neighboring states. This article will discuss risk management and the employers’ and the drug testing companies’ role in Pennsylvania wit...

COVID-19 has created an entirely new workplace safety issue within the purview of the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (“OSHA”). While workplace safety has always been an important focus of the school bus industry, employers must now consider how they are handling their own internal protocols with regard to the coronavirus. If an employee raises a COVID based workplace safety concern, employers should be aware of possible OSHA implications when responding to such complaints. This ...

As a number of regions across the country begin to experience a surge in coronavirus cases due to new variants, employers and local, state, and federal governments have begun to mandate vaccines in some capacity. Recently, the Biden Administration announced that they have directed the Occupational Health and Safety Administration to create a new rule which requires private employers with at least 100 employees to ensure that their employees are vaccinated or receive weekly Covid-19 testing. Addi...

The implementation of paid sick leave laws by states, cities, and counties is a fast growing trend across the country, and many employers who operate in areas that adopt these laws may potentially be affected. This article discusses what paid sick leave laws are and highlights certain laws that have been introduced and/or passed in Pennsylvania.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) requires many employers with more than ten (10) employees to maintain injury and illness records if the injuries and illnesses are work-related. In April 2020, OSHA issued guidance that established COVID-19 as a recordable illness and stated that employers may be required to record cases of COVID-19. However, because COVID-19 can be easily transmitted, and considering the fact that a sick employee may be unaware he or she contracted CO...

As we are quickly approaching the one-year anniversary of the introduction of Covid-19 in the United States in February 2020, federal regulatory agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continue to work closely with pharmaceutical companies who are in the process of developing a vaccine to assist with the development and implementation. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been approved by the FDA and are currently in the ea...