Member Article

The US Regional Employment 2020 features 14 states. The guide provides expert legal commentary on the impact of COVID-19 on the workplace, the "Black Lives Matter" and "Me Too" movements, unions, the National Labor Relations Board, the interviewing process, restrictive covenants, discrimination and harassment, and whistle-blower claims.

Bradley attorneys authored the Alabama and Tennessee chapters of the US Regional Employment 2020 featured below. To use the Chambers compare tool, please visit their website.

1. Current Socio-Economic, Political, and Legal Climate; Context Matters

1.1 The Impact of COVID-19 on the Workplace

It is not clear whether the COVID-19 pandemic will have any lasting effect on the workplace once the risks presented by the pandemic no longer exist. Temporarily, there have been many changes, including most notably a dramatic increase in remote work. Either in reaction to the virus, or because the virus pro-vided an opportunity that had not existed earlier, many other changes have been brought to bear on the workplace of almost every employee in Tennessee.

The changes have come from all levels of government, federal, state and municipal. The US Congress has enacted several pieces of emergency legislation intended to blunt the negative impact of the virus on the economy, including paid leave for employees who must miss work for reasons related to COVID-19. Federal agencies, in applying both new and pre-existing legislation, have issued and then modified regulatory and interpretive guidance.

State and Local Measures

On the state level, Tennessee was one of the first states to begin reopening in late April after Governor Bill Lee previously issued a safer-at-home order that resulted in the closing of many businesses. Governor Lee has since maintained that he will resist shutting down the economy again.

On a local level, certain municipalities, such as Nashville and Memphis, have issued edicts that address issues such as:

• the mandatory wearing of masks;
• limits on the number of persons that may assemble in both private and public places; and
• the temporary mandatory closure of certain types of businesses.

The specific restrictions imposed vary from municipality to municipality, requiring employers to be cognizant of a variety of local restrictions.

Republished with permission. The full article was first published by Chambers USA in October 2020 and can be found here.