For reasons that are evident to everyone, there has been renewed focus on whether and when vaccinations can be required. For the most part, the case law on vaccines is older law; the important vaccination cases in the United States court system are typically from the early part of the 20th century. However, a case did surface out of New York during 2020 and the plaintiffs are trying mightily to get it into the Supreme Court of the United States. The case involved routine childhood vaccinations, but it is a good preview of how COVID vaccine challenges may fare in the courts. …
Posted by Jennifer A. Hardin on
Late on Friday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Department of Education (USDOE) release updated guidance to support school districts as they continue the return to in-person instruction.
CDC’s Operational Strategy for K-12 Schools through Phased Mitigation is intended to assist schools to open safely and soon. The Operational Strategy, based on available science and data on COVID-19, describes a pathway to in-person instruction using an “…
Posted by Van D. Keating on
On Feb. 2, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) released updated guidance on the K-12 School Staff Vaccination Program. The new guidance includes an updated K-12 school vaccination timeline as well as more specific definitions as to which K-12 personnel are eligible for the vaccinations.
More specifically, ODH states the following in the new guidelines:
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Posted by Sara C. Clark on
On Jan. 20, President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order on Preventing and Combating…
Posted by Ralph Lusher III on
On Jan. 7, 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) published its final rules for determining whether a worker is an independent contractor or an employee for purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The rules take effect on Mar. 8, 2021. The rules are important because businesses and organizations must comply with the wage and hour provisions of FLSA for employees but not for independent contractors. Although school districts do not routinely deal with the scenario of questioning whether someone is an employee or independent contractor, it does come up on occasion.
The DOL final…
Posted by Jennifer A. Hardin on
Over the last few weeks, it seems like everyone is talking about vaccines. "Have you gotten it?" "Are you a 1a or a 1b?" "How do I get my shot?"
OSBA’s legal division, in anticipation of questions from districts, has put together a quick Q&A to help districts answer some of the questions they may get from employees, parents and students.…
Posted by Ralph Lusher III on
New Classroom Quarantine Guidelines
The Ohio Department of Health issued a new fact sheet K-12 School Quarantine Guidelines. The new guidelines stem from a study that showed children who had close contact (defined as within six feet for 15 minutes) to infected individuals and appropriately masked had rates of COVID-19 that were similar to children with no known COVID-19 exposure in school.
The new guidelines apply to students and adults who have been exposed to COVID-19 in K-12 schools. The guidelines provide that these exposed students and…
Posted by Van D. Keating on
The joint OSBA/OASBO workers’ compensation program is excited to announce that CompManagement Health Systems, Inc. (CompManagement MCO) is merging with CareWorks of Ohio, Ltd. (CareWorks MCO), effective Monday, Dec. 21, 2020. This merger accompanies a name change to Sedgwick Managed Care Ohio (Sedgwick MCO).
Sedgwick, CompManagement’s parent company, acquired CareWorks in 2019. For the past 16 months, the teams at CareWorks and CompManagement have partnered to develop best practices to ensure outstanding outcomes remain available to school district.
A couple of things to…
Posted by Sara C. Clark on
Pursuant to RC 3313.14, school boards must set the date of their January organizational meeting by Dec. 31. Under the statute, it is the…
Posted by Van D. Keating on
In November, Governor DeWine appointed John Logue as the new Administrator/CEO of the Bureau of Workers Compensation. Earlier in his career, John worked for CompManagement and was the program administrator assigned to work with the OSBA/OASBO workers’ compensation program.
BWC has also announced the third 2020 dividend will be mailed in mid-December to school districts. The $5 billion dividend is…