On May 9, 2025, Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law numerous provisions under the FY26 New York State Budget that, among other things, increase the civil penalties for employers that violate state child labor laws and...more
As we’ve blogged on previously, there’s a split in the New York intermediate-level appellate courts as to whether a private right of action exists for a violation of Labor Law § 191(1)(a), which—absent a waiver by the...more
On January 17, 2024, New York Governor Kathy Hochul released her proposed Executive Budget for fiscal year 2025. The budget includes proposed legislation that would amend the New York Labor Law to confirm that liquidated...more
A trio of New York State Senators has proposed a bill that would create a cause of action for “wrongful discharge.” If enacted, the “Safeguarding Employees and Accountability for Termination (SEAT) Act” would be codified in...more
In 2016, New York City enacted the Freelance Isn’t Free Act, a local law establishing protections for certain freelance workers providing services for entities located in the City. Earlier this month, the New York State...more
A suite of bills aimed at further enhancing protections for both employees and independent contractors regarding discrimination, harassment and retaliation in the workplace are on the horizon in New York State. Several of...more
3/17/2022
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Employee Definition ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Labor Reform ,
New York ,
No-Hire/No-Solicitation Agreements ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
NYSHRL ,
Public Employees ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Statute of Limitations
In this blog series, we look at a variety of activities and discuss whether an employer has to pay its non-exempt (i.e., overtime-eligible) employees for their time spent engaging in them. We’ll focus on federal law, but as...more
Shortly after his election in November 2021, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that he would accept his first three paychecks in Bitcoin. On January 20, 2022, the day before his first paycheck from the City was...more
3/9/2022
/ Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Digital Currency ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Ethereum ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Minimum Wage ,
Over-Time ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities Regulation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
The New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) has issued a form of required notice regarding the dramatically expanded whistleblower protections under New York Labor Law § 740 that took effect last month....more
2/14/2022
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Labor Reform ,
New York ,
Notice Requirements ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Retaliation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
On September 6, 2021, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law New York Senate Bill S2766, which makes contractors in the construction industry jointly and severally liable for wages owed to employees of its...more
9/29/2021
/ Construction Contracts ,
Construction Workers ,
Contractors ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Joint and Several Liability ,
Labor Reform ,
New Legislation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Subcontractors ,
Upstream Contracts ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wages
New York Governors seem to have a history of favoring employees with Labor Law giveaways as they check out of the Executive Mansion. (Remember the Wage Theft Prevention Act, signed by David Paterson days before he left office...more
On July 21, 2021, answering a question certified by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that time spent by employees waiting to undergo and undergoing mandatory...more
On July 15, 2021, the California Supreme Court issued its decision in Ferra v. Loews Hollywood Hotel, LLC, in which it held that meal and rest break premiums required under California Labor Code section 226.7 (“Section...more
With Election Day just around the corner, we’ll be highlighting some of the issues facing employers in a two-part series on elections and the workplace. In this first installment, we’ll look at employee protections around...more
10/5/2020
/ 501(c)(3) ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employment Policies ,
Free Speech ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Off-Duty Employees ,
Political Speech ,
Presidential Elections ,
Social Media ,
State Labor Laws
New York State and Washington D.C. have enacted legislation regarding paid time off to vote. The details of these new laws are summarized below....more
On November 20, 2019, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the fluctuating workweek (“FWW”) method of calculating overtime pay owed to salaried workers is prohibited by state law. Chevalier v. General Nutrition Centers...more
As we previously reported, Nevada has enacted a personal leave law, which, effective January 1, 2020, will require private employers with 50 or more employees in Nevada to provide certain employees working in the state with...more
11/19/2019
/ Accrual Method ,
Advisory Opinions ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exemptions ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Full-Time Employees ,
Labor Commissioners ,
New Legislation ,
Notice Requirements ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Part-Time Employees ,
Seasonal Workers ,
State Labor Laws ,
Temporary Employees
On January 1, 2020, the new federal overtime rule takes effect. Other than in states with already-higher minimum salaries for exemption (which include California and, for certain types of employees, New York), employers will...more
9/26/2019
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Minimum Salary ,
Misclassification ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
2019 has been a busy year for developments in workplace law. With the current administration in Washington taking a very passive stance on regulation of employers, States and Cities have led the charge to expand workers'...more
9/11/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Pay ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Lactation Accommodation ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Salary/Wage History ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Toledo, Ohio is the latest jurisdiction (and the second city in Ohio) to enact a law that will prohibit employers from asking job applicants about salary history....more
7/16/2019
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Job Applicants ,
Local Ordinance ,
Private Right of Action ,
Remedies ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State Labor Laws
The Colorado legislature has been quite active in recent weeks, passing several new employment laws, many of which reflect nationwide trends. Among other things, the new laws address discriminatory pay disparities, salary...more
7/8/2019
/ Criminal Background Checks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Job Applicants ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State Labor Laws
Continuing the trend of states passing increasingly progressive employment regulations, Nevada recently enacted three new laws addressing paid leave, workplace drug testing, and minimum wage. ...more
The New York state legislature has passed a bill that would allow employees making certain claims for unpaid wages to obtain a lien against their employers’ property for the value of the claim, inclusive of liquidated...more
7/1/2019
/ Books & Records ,
Call-In Pay ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Liens ,
Liquidated Damages ,
Minimum Wage ,
Payroll Deductions ,
Personal Liability ,
Privately Held Corporations ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Shareholders ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Unpaid Wages
As we have previously reported, in late 2018, a Texas appellate court ruled that a similar paid sick leave ordinance enacted in Austin violated the Texas Minimum Wage Act and the Texas Constitution and was therefore...more
New Jersey will soon become the first state to require certain employers to offer employees tax-favored transportation benefits.
S.B. 1567, also known as An Act Concerning Pre-Tax Transportation Fringe Benefits (the...more