Even in ordinary times, keeping up with an ever-changing employment law landscape is a compliance challenge for businesses. The extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic sparked unprecedented compliance challenges for employers, including workplace safety issues, additional temporary leave requirements and interpreting existing obligations through the lens of COVID-19.

Compliance obligations for employers are continuing to evolve in 2021. Presidential administration change and a change in the majority party in the U.S. Senate each typically cause new and revised legislation and regulations. Combined with the ongoing pandemic, the result is continued significant alteration to the legal and regulatory framework that will impact employers in 2021 and beyond. These developing issues include worker classification under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), a temporary expansion of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) and COVID-19 workplace safety issues relating to fully vaccinated employees.