Employers were hit hard in 2020, not only with government-mandated closings and the growing risk of infection, but also with the heightened potential for employment law violations. New state and federal protections were implemented for workers impacted by COVID-19, with ...
Read More »Your Counsel: COVID-19, OSHA and whistleblower complaints
Lawyers tend to limit their practice to a few areas. Nonetheless, people come to us with myriad problems — many of which fall outside our expertise. Through this column, we provide practical information to help you assist those who have ...
Read More »Virus aid, police reform dominate new US laws for 2021
Responses to the coronavirus pandemic and police brutality dominated legislative sessions in 2020, leading to scores of new laws that will take effect in the new year. Virus-related laws include those offering help to essential workers, boosting unemployment benefits and ...
Read More »COVID-19 spikes follow in prisons after inmate transfers
DETROIT — Families of men incarcerated at Michigan’s Kinross Correctional Facility believed its remote location would spare it from a deadly COVID-19 outbreak. For a while, they seemed to be right. Kinross, built on the grounds of a former Air ...
Read More »Ohio judge pulled from cases over coronavirus concerns
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio judge who failed to adopt written rules for mask wearing and other coronavirus prevention measures has been removed from two cases by the chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. Although Muskingum County Court ...
Read More »Ask the Attorney: Courts in the day of COVID — What it means for Litigants
The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped just about every aspect of our daily lives, so it is no surprise that court operations have changed as well. Slowly the courts were reopening, although not entirely to date, and each county is handling ...
Read More »Vaccine injury claims could face bureaucratic ‘black hole’
Lost in the U.S. launch of the coronavirus vaccine is a fact most don’t know when they roll up their sleeves: In rare cases of serious illness from the shots, the injured are blocked from suing and steered instead to ...
Read More »Advocate’s View: Foster care case may affect challenges to COVID restrictions
A little over a month ago, the United States Supreme Court heard oral argument in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia. Fulton challenges a decision by the city of Philadelphia to stop referring foster-care cases to a Catholic foster-care association because ...
Read More »Businesses, lacking legal immunity, fear COVID-19 lawsuits
PORTLAND, Maine — Plans for a lawsuit against a Maine venue that hosted what became a “superspreader” wedding reception underscore the liability risks to small businesses amid the coronavirus pandemic and an uphill push by Republicans in Congress to give ...
Read More »1 in 5 prisoners in the US has had COVID-19; 1,700 have died
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — One in every five state and federal prisoners in the United States has tested positive for the coronavirus, a rate more than four times as high as the general population. In some states, more than half ...
Read More »GRAWA President’s Message: A challenging year still deserves appreciation
We have reached the end of 2020, a year that many want to quickly call “history,” while earnestly hoping that 2021 has something better in store. I believe, however, that we have to embrace what this year was. It was ...
Read More »Tyson facing another lawsuit over employee COVID-19 death
STORM LAKE, Iowa (AP) — The family of a Tyson Foods employee are alleging in a lawsuit that he died from COVID-19 after the meat processing giant failed to implement safety protocols to guard against the coronavirus at the Iowa ...
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