All posts of Gardner Skelton

Telemedicine in the United States has exploded over the last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey found that more than 60% of Americans had used telehealth, compared to a year earlier when just under 20% had. This has largely been due to federal policy changes, including non-penalties for HIPAA violations during telehealth visits […]

The Information Blocking Final Rule went into effect in April of 2021, requiringhealthcare providers to provide and share information upon the legitimate request ofa patient or other healthcare provider without unreasonable delay. What do healthcare providers need to know about informationblocking? The Information Blocking Final Rule is request driven—it has everything to do withresponding to […]

Earlier this month the results of a widely publicized unionization vote at a 6,000-person Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama were announced, with workers decisively voting against forming a union. Despite the loss, many experts believe that unionization in America is poised for a resurgence. The Biden administration has been openly sympathetic to unions and […]

In recent years, risk of website accessibility litigation has been on the rise. From 2017 to 2018, the number of federally filed website accessibility cases nearly tripled, from 815 to 2,285. In 2019, more than 3,200 cases were filed. The majority of these cases involve accessibility standards for the visually impaired – that is, courts […]

North Carolina has historically been one of the hungriest states in the U.S. Prior to the pandemic, Feeding America reported that 1,456,200 North Carolinians were struggling with hunger, including 443,040 children. That means 1 in 7 adults and 1 in 5 children were struggling with food insecurity. Since the pandemic began, the need has only […]

On January 6, 2021, the US Department of Labor (DOL) issued long sought-after clarity on the legal distinction between independent contractors and employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The rule is scheduled to take effect on March 8, 2021.  The rule reaffirms the “economic reality” test to determine whether an individual is in […]

After delaying the opening of the 2019 EEO-1 Component 1 Data Collection on May 8, 2020 in light of COVID-19, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently announced the 2019 and 2020 EEO-1 Component 1 Data Collection (EEO-1 Report) is on schedule to open in 2021. The EEO-1 Report is a compliance survey mandated by […]