On December 21, 2022, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a statewide pay transparency measure into law. The new law, which goes into effect on September 18, 2023, requires covered employers and employment agencies to list...more
1/3/2023
/ Disclosure Requirements ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Ads ,
Job Descriptions ,
Job Promotions ,
New Legislation ,
New York ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Last week, NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo joined the agency’s regional prosecutors in concluding that some NCAA student athletes are employees, instructing the Board’s regional prosecutors to pursue unfair labor claims...more
On December 14, 2022, in a return to Obama-era precedent, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) toughened the standard an employer must meet to prevent a union from organizing a small group of employees within a larger...more
New York has passed a new law intended to ensure that workers are permitted to take lawful absences from work without being penalized. The new measure amends Section 215 of the New York Labor Law to prohibit an employer from...more
On October 11, 2022, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) released a proposed rule setting forth a new test for determining whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards...more
With its decision in Valley Hospital Medical Center, the NLRB reversed its Trump-era precedent and held that dues checkoff provisions in collective bargaining agreements survive the expiration of the contract. Accordingly,...more
On July 26, 2022, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed into law the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (“CROWN”) Act. Among other things, the law prohibits discrimination based on “traits...more
Under updated EEOC guidance, an employer may now conduct mandatory COVID-19 testing only if such testing is “job-related and consistent with business necessity.”
Employers should assess a number of factors before...more
Over the past decade, several Supreme Court decisions have made the enforcement of arbitration agreements much more likely, particularly in the employment context. On May 23, 2022, however, the Supreme Court issued a rare...more
On April 14, 2022, the SJC held that where employees’ sole claims for overtime wages rest on the employer’s liability under the FLSA, employees are limited to the remedies provided under the FLSA, and may not receive treble...more
4/15/2022
/ Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Labor Law Violations ,
MA Supreme Judicial Court ,
Over-Time ,
Retroactive Application ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage Act ,
Wage and Hour
On April 4, 2022, the SJC held that employers must pay treble damages on late wage payments, even if the employee has not filed a Wage Act complaint with the Office of the Attorney General or a court before the payment is...more
On January 15, 2022, New York City passed Local Law 32 of 2022, which requires employers in New York City to post the “minimum and maximum salary” for “advertisements” in a “job, promotion or transfer opportunity.” This...more
4/6/2022
/ Disclosure Requirements ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Job Ads ,
Job Applicants ,
New Legislation ,
New Regulations ,
Pay Transparency ,
Salaried Employees ,
State and Local Government ,
Wage and Hour
On March 24, 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled in Patel v. 7-Eleven that the test for independent contractor status set forth in the Massachusetts independent contractor statute applies to the...more
3/29/2022
/ ABC Test ,
Business Litigation ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Franchisee ,
Franchisors ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
On March 3, 2022, President Biden signed the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (the “Act”) into law. The Act amends the Federal Arbitration Act to prohibit employers from mandating...more
On January 13, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (“OSHA”) enforcement of its COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”). Among other things, the ETS would have...more
1/17/2022
/ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Mandates ,
OSHA ,
SCOTUS ,
Stays ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
On December 13, 2021, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) issued a highly-anticipated opinion, recognizing the concept of joint employment under the Massachusetts Wage Act (“Wage Act”) and setting forth the...more
On December 17, 2021, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (SJC) held that an employee has a cause of action against an employer for wrongful discharge where the employer terminates the employee for exercising the...more
On December 17, 2021, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the stay on OSHA’s COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”), allowing OSHA to move forward with enforcing the ETS — including its rule requiring large...more
On December 14, 2021, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) updated its COVID-19 Technical Assistance Guidance to address when COVID-19 is a disability within the meaning of the Americans with Disabilities Act...more
As technological advances have given employers artificial intelligence (AI) based tools to assist them in the hiring process, New York City has taken note. Recently, New York City adopted a new measure restricting the use of...more
On December 6, 2021, New York City announced a vaccine mandate for all private-sector employers that will take effect on December 27, 2021. The mandate, which will require all in-person employees who are in a workplace with...more
12/7/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Deadlines ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Mayor de Blasio ,
New York ,
Private Sector ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
State Legislatures ,
Vaccinations
On November 8, 2021, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law a bill requiring employers to provide written notice to and obtain employee acknowledgments from new hires before they may engage in electronic monitoring of...more
On November 22, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a Final Rule that will increase the minimum wage for employees who work on federal contracts. The Final Rule implements Executive Order 14026, which President Biden...more
Updates Regarding COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate for Federal Contractors Released November 12, 2021 On November 4, 2021, the White House announced that the deadline for the federal contractor vaccination mandate will be extended...more
11/12/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Compliance ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employer ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Federal Contractors ,
OSHA ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Time Extensions ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
On November 10, 2021, following the announcement of OSHA’s new vaccination-or-testing rule, the Office of the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board released a memorandum addressing employers’ obligation to...more