CoronavirusMichigan’s Dept. of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) and Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) launched a new program focused on supporting Michigan businesses to reopen safely in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The program is called the MIOSHA Ambassador Program. It offers education and one-on-one guidance to help businesses understand regulations on workplace

coronavirus employee testingOne Big Thing in Michigan COVID-19 News:

On August 21, 2020, U.S. Federal Court Judge Paul Maloney of the Western District Court for Michigan issued an order denying a motion for a preliminary injunction over the State of Michigan’s testing requirements for agricultural and food processing workers.

What’s Next: 

This was a preliminary order for

OSHA COVID-19 Worker SafetyThe AFL-CIO sued to require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue an emergency temporary standard (ETS) to protect workers from the novel coronavirus.

Why it Matters

To date, OSHA has refused calls from lawmakers and Union leaders to issue a temporary emergency standard in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

If successful, all

Coronavirus May 7, 2020, marks the re-opening in Michigan of the construction industry and other business segments from a broad stay-in-place order. Specifically, Governor Whitmer has begun to relax her prior stay-in-place order, allowing the resumption of some types of work.

Such work is expected to present a lower risk of infection and spread as Michigan

COVID-19

The Department of Labor (DOL) announced guidance on March 12, 2020, for how States can pay unemployment insurance benefits to employees who miss work because of the coronavirus. Here is the DOL’s COVID-19 Bulletin.

The Federal DOL generally oversees unemployment insurance benefits systems. But States actually handle applications and payments. In so doing, States

Bio-hazard

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan announced on March 11, 2020, visitor restrictions for entering its five courthouses to prevent the spread of the virus.

The full restrictions are available here. These restrictions were issued in response to Governor Whitmer’s State of Emergency, which we discussed here.

In sum,