Dec 4, 2020, 5:03 PM
(From NPR) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has revised its guidelines for people who may have been exposed to the coronavirus. Now, instead of the standard 14-day quarantine it has been recommending, the CDC says that potential exposure warrants a quarantine of ten or 7 days, depending on one's test results and symptoms. Individuals can end their quarantine after 7 days if they receive a negative test, or 10 days without getting tested. The agency added that local health officials have leeway to adjust CDC guidelines according to conditions in their jurisdictions.
The revision marks a significant change from the CDC's recommendations since the start of the pandemic earlier this year. While the agency says a 14-day quarantine remains the safest option, it acknowledged a shorter length “balances reduced burden against a small possibility of spreading the virus,” according to the statement.
(From SHRM) A federal district court in California has overturned the last two new regulations that raised prevailing wages and eligibility criteria for foreign workers to receive H-1B visas. Judge Jeffrey White found that the unemployment crisis caused by the coronavirus was not good cause for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of Labor to flout the proper regulatory procedure when issuing the two policies, which aimed to increase the required wages employers must pay their H-1B workers and would have redefined the degrees, occupations and employer-employee relationships eligible for the visas on Dec. 7. The recent decision ensures the continued viability of the H-1B program, which supplies work authorization to more than 580,000 individuals in the U.S., according legal experts.
(From CFO) A new survey of 344 North American organizations by Willis Towers Watson shows that despite over half (59%) of those organizations’ employees were working from home, many employers have yet to build formal policies and principles around alternative work arrangements. Prior to 2020, only 37% of the surveyed companies had those in place. One-quarter of them (25%) created formal policies this year, and 60% said they were planning or considering adopting one this year or next. In what is good news for employers, the organizations surveyed say they expect some savings from the remote work trend in real estate and commuting expenses.
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