COVID-19 Update September 17, 2020

BREAKING NEWS! Bringing hope to the people of Louisiana, Governor Edwards has altered his Phase 3 order to extend the on-premises sale and consumption of alcohol until 11 pm at restaurants, casinos, and bars in parishes that are eligible to opt in to reopen bars.

According to LA Phase 3 guidelines, many businesses re-opened in Phase 2 have been allowed to increase their capacity to 75 percent through October 3rd. Orleans Parish will remain in Phase 2 as decided by Mayor Cantrell, while Jefferson Parish was deemed unable to meet certain Phase 3 criteria. In other state news, a federal judge has ruled that Louisiana must allow further access to mail-in absentee ballots for the November 3^rd presidential election.

Enclosed is a wrap-up of the latest state and federal legislation updates created by an acquaintance based out of Atlanta. He covers lots of changes happening in California and Oregon, and this one has some relevant items that we wanted to share.

Our risk and safety team has created a 7-step guide to help employers with dealing with positive COVID-19 employee test results. There have been several updates since April when we last circulated a recommended response plan to incorporate into pandemic policies as businesses began to reopen. As we mentioned earlier today during our bi-weekly webinar, we will be shifting those to a monthly/as-needed-basis moving forward. I hope those of you that have been tuning-in have found them to be valuable – we will continue welcome business topic suggestions and requests.

Additionally, we are excited to announce the launch of our “Dialed in with Delta” webinar series, where we will be featuring interviews with prominent community figures and experts in their field about prevalent public matters and HR-related concerns. Kicking off with our first episode next week, our panelists will be discussing contingency planning for the educational system and the logistics of a strategic reopening, the allotted employer accommodations relating to childcare as per the ADA, FMLA, and FFCRA, and some of the challenges that these professionals feel are not as often discussed in the public. Stay tuned for a link to register!