Employment trends expert discusses Hobby Lobby ruling and what employers can learn from their costly mistake

An Illinois appeals court recently upheld a ruling deeming that Hobby Lobby’s bathroom policies violated a transgender employee’s human rights. Hobby Lobby now must pay the employee $220,000 in damages, along with potential additional damages and fees.

“Denying this transgender woman the right to use the women’s bathroom has cost Hobby Lobby a great deal of money, but as a large corporation, they can easily absorb the damages,” says Rob Wilson, President of Employco USA and employment trends expert. “However, other mid-size and small businesses could be decimated by such a ruling.”

No wonder many employers are wondering what they can do to avoid similar fines. There are many new regulations that companies need to adhere to if they don’t want to wind up facing civil suits like Hobby Lobby.

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Employco USA is conducting a quick, 6-question survey related to COVID-19 for businesses. If you are in management or human resources, we’d love to get your input. The survey is completely voluntary and anonymous. We will be sharing the overall results with everyone in a future follow-up post.

Click the following link to take the survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LC9TNDY

Thank you in advance if you are able to participate!

Employment trends expert weighs in on whether unvaccinated employees should be penalized  

With hopes of a return to normalcy slowly deteriorating thanks to the Delta variant and concerning upticks in COVID cases across the country, employers are struggling to find ways to stay afloat. One way that employers are trying to cut costs?

By asking employees who have refused the COVID vaccination to pay a premium surcharge on their company’s health plan.

“Many companies have led with a carrot approach when it comes to encouraging employee vaccinations, but unfortunately, vaccine hesitancy is leading many employers to reach for the stick now,” says Rob Wilson, President of Employco USA and employment trends expert.

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Employment trends expert Rob Wilson comments on why employers are requiring masks once again

As the Delta variant rages on, Facebook, Target, Home Depot, and McDonald’s all put masks back on the table for workers. Yet the decision to require masks once again has not been an easy one for employers.

“Right now, protests are happening across the country as employees push back against mask mandates as well as mandated COVID-19 vaccinations,” says Rob Wilson, President of Employco USA and human resources expert. “From California to North Carolina to New York, crowds of employees and concerned citizens have gathered to express their dismay at tightening COVID restrictions.”

But do employers have the right to require masks and vaccinations?

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Employment expert addresses whether employees should be required to mask up again

With the Delta variant complicating our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, many local officials are starting to reinstate their mask mandates. However, this poses a tricky issue for employers, particularly those who encouraged vaccines among their employees with their promise that vaccinated staff could drop their masks at work.

“Many employers tried to encourage vaccine compliance among their workers by saying that vaccinated workers would be able to go mask-free,” says Rob Wilson, President of Employco USA, a national employment solutions firm. “But, now, we’re looking at new mask requirements across the country in which Americans are being asked to mask up once more. So can employers go back on their original agreement and tell everyone, even vaccinated employees, to put their masks on again?”

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