DISPATCH
Indiana high court will not hear appeal of conviction from fatal school bus crash
Employers can bar unvaccinated employees from the workplace , EEOC says
CBS News – With the first doses of Pfizer ' s COVID-19 vaccine now being administered in the U . S ., the federal government is giving employers around the country the green light to require immunization for most workers . In general , companies have the legal right to mandate that employees get a COVID-19 shot , the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ( EEOC ) said Wednesday . More specifically , employers are entitled — and required — to ensure a safe workplace in which " an individual shall not pose a direct threat to the health or safety of individuals in the workplace ." That can mean a company requiring its workforce to be vaccinated . The Americans with Disabilities Act limits an employer ' s ability to require workers to get a medical examination . But the EEOC ' s latest guidance clarifies that getting vaccinated does not constitute a medical exam . As a result , ordering employees to get a COVID-19 shot would not violate the ADA . In cases like these , an employer must attempt to make a reasonable accommodation for the worker , like allowing them to work from home , for example . If that is not possible , however , and unvaccinated individuals pose a potential threat to either themselves or to others , a company has the right under employment law to exclude them from physically entering the workplace . Notably , that does not mean an employer may summarily fire a worker who declines to be vaccinated . They could be eligible for unpaid leave or other similar entitlements under federal , state and local laws , according to the EEOC . " At some point , if they are on job-protected unpaid leave , that might rise to the level of undue hardship . But it would be on a case-by-case basis ," said Sharon Masling , a workplace attorney at Morgan Lewis in Washington , D . C ., and former chief of staff to an EEOC commissioner . But the agency ' s guidance does mean that if a worker ' s job cannot be done remotely and there is no reasonable way to accommodate the person ' s wish not to be vaccinated , then the employer can terminate their employment . " The logical conclusion is that if no possible accommodation can be made and the employee ' s job requires that they be in the physical workplace — and they pose a direct threat to the safety of the workplace or others — that yes , they could be terminated ," Rella said . – by Megan Cerullo for CBS News
WISH ( Rochester , Indiana ) – The Indiana Supreme Court has ruled it will not hear an appeal from the woman convicted of plowing her pickup into four children , killing three of them , as they crossed a two-lane highway to board their school bus . A Fulton County jury in October 2019 found Alyssa Shepherd , 24 , guilty of reckless homicide and criminal recklessness in the Oct . 30 , 2018 , crash that killed 6-year-old twin brothers Xzavier and Mason Ingle , and their 9-year-old sister , Alivia Stahl . Maverik Lowe , 11 , was critically injured . She was sentenced to four years in prison in December 2019 , and she appealed the case in May . In her appeal , Shepherd had wanted the court to dismiss her conviction and order a new trial . At the time of her arrest , Shepherd told authorities she did not realize that she was approaching a stopped school bus , despite the activated stop arm and flashing lights . During her trial , Fulton County Prosecutor Michael Marrs said the bus stop had been in place for 50 years without a child being killed , The Associated Press reported . The crash led to statewide changes , prompting the legislature to increase penalties for drivers who illegally pass stopped school buses . – by WISH staff
FMCSA proposal : drivers not required to report traffic violations annually to employers
The new rule , proposed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ( FMCSA ), reads : FMCSA proposes to eliminate the requirement that drivers operating commercial motor vehicles ( CMVs ) in interstate commerce prepare and submit a list of their convictions for traffic violations to their employers annually . This requirement is largely duplicative of a separate provision that requires each motor carrier to make an annual inquiry to obtain the motor vehicle record ( MVR ) for each driver it employs from every State in which the driver holds or has held a CMV operator ' s license or permit in the past year . To ensure motor carriers are aware of traffic violations for a
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