On Feb. 8, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Murray v. UBS Securities, LLC that plaintiffs bringing whistleblower retaliation claims under Section 1514A of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 do not need to prove...more
2/15/2024
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Intent ,
Murray v UBS Securities LLC ,
Protected Activity ,
Retaliation ,
Sarbanes-Oxley ,
SCOTUS ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
On Nov. 17, 2023, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law amendments to New York’s General Obligations Law § 5-336 that prohibit the use of certain terms in release agreements. The amendments are principally intended to strengthen...more
Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College (SFFA) that the undergraduate affirmative action admissions practices of Harvard College and the...more
On June 29, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Groff v. DeJoy that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires an employer that denies a religious accommodation to show that the burden of granting an...more
7/13/2023
/ Civil Rights Act ,
De Minimus Doctrine ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Groff v DeJoy ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Religious Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Substantial Burden ,
Title VII ,
Undue Hardship ,
USPS
New York’s Legislature concluded its legislative session with a flurry of activity, including the passage of four notable employment-related bills. In sum, these four bills (i) ban the use of non-compete agreements, (ii)...more
6/21/2023
/ Contract Terms ,
Discrimination ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Freelance Isn't Free Act (FIFA) ,
Freelance Workers ,
Labor Reform ,
New York ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Religious Discrimination ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
State Labor Laws
On Sept. 20, 2022, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that the city will end a vaccine mandate for private sector employees that has been in effect since Dec. 27, 2021...more
Over the past two years, developments in employment law have focused on COVID-19. But there are developments in other areas of employment law, especially in New York, that employers must be aware of and plan for in the new...more
1/11/2022
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Minimum Wage ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
As discussed in Kramer Levin’s alert earlier this year, New York’s Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (the Act) legalized recreational cannabis for individuals age 21 and older in New York State effective March 31, 2021....more
Recent Amendments to the New York City Fair Chance Act (FCA) that took effect on July 29, 2021, significantly expand the scope of the FCA by imposing new restrictions on an employer’s ability to take adverse action against...more
As we reported previously, Governor Cuomo signed the Health and Essential Rights Act (the HERO Act) into law. The HERO Act requires employers to adopt an airborne infectious disease exposure prevention plan to protect...more
In April 2018, New York enacted Section 7515 of the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR 7515), which invalidated pre-dispute agreements to arbitrate sexual harassment claims “except where inconsistent with federal...more
A recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) has modified the standard for determining whether employees have been lawfully disciplined or discharged after making abusive or offensive statements...more
Following its December 2019 decision holding that confidentiality mandates during the course of workplace investigations are presumptively lawful, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently held that employers can...more
In recognition of the challenges currently facing employers due to COVID-19, on May 8 the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that it will delay its collection of 2019 EEO-1 Component 1 data until...more
5/16/2020
/ Data Collection ,
EEO-1 ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
OMB ,
Pay Data ,
Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Gap ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Wage and Hour
On Monday, March 23, the United States Supreme Court, in a nearly unanimous opinion, ruled that a plaintiff asserting race discrimination claims in the making of a contract under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 (Section 1981) bears the...more
3/31/2020
/ 42 U. S. C. § 1981 ,
Appeals ,
Burden of Proof ,
But For Causation ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Comcast ,
Comcast Corp. v National Association of African American-Owned Media ,
Commercial Contracts ,
Dismissals ,
Employment Contract ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Race Discrimination ,
Racial Bias ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Split of Authority ,
Substantial Motivating Factor Test ,
Television Broadcast Stations ,
Title VII
As COVID-19 spreads across the United States, it is having a profound impact on employment relationships. With the situation changing daily, employers are making decisions that may impact the health of their employees, their...more
3/17/2020
/ Best Practices ,
Business Continuity Plans ,
Business Interruption ,
Business Travel ,
China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Layoffs ,
Legislative Agendas ,
OSHA ,
Pending Legislation ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Public Health ,
Risk Management ,
Sick Leave ,
Telecommuting ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
2019 brought a number of important changes in the law that warrant the attention of New York employers. Start off the new year right and ensure your calendars are up to date by including the 2020 effective dates of these New...more
1/15/2020
/ Conditional Job Offers ,
Contract Terms ,
Drug Testing ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Regulations ,
Local Ordinance ,
Minimum Salary ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
NYSHRL ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Pay Gap ,
Reproductive Discrimination ,
Salaried Employees ,
Salary/Wage History ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Unenforceable Contract Terms ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
On Dec. 17, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) held that confidentiality mandates during the course of workplace investigations are presumptively lawful.
...more
12/23/2019
/ Confidential Information ,
Confidentiality Policies ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Labor Relations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Risk Management ,
Section 7 ,
Workplace Investigations
On Nov. 14, 2019, the office of the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) General Counsel released an advice memorandum finding an employer violated federal labor law by requiring employees to sign a broad non-disparagement...more
While New York employers are rushing to comply with the new amendments to New York State’s anti-discrimination and anti-harassment laws, New York State legislators show no signs of slowing down. On Aug. 20, 2019, Governor...more
9/11/2019
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Domestic Violence ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Labor Regulations ,
New Amendments ,
NYSHRL ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
Pursuant to a recent court order, employers with 100 or more employees and certain federal contractors must submit employee wage and hour data organized into categories of race, sex and ethnicity (referred to as “EEO-1...more
5/15/2019
/ Data Collection ,
EEO-1 ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Data ,
Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Gap ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Wage and Hour
Common employer practices related to employee claims of discrimination, harassment and retaliation are now prohibited by law in New Jersey. Bill S121, signed into law by Governor Phil Murphy on March 18, 2019...more
As we previously reported in our client alerts dated Sept. 4, 2018 and Sept. 17, 2018, effective Oct. 9, 2018, New York State employers are required to adopt and distribute a written sexual harassment prevention policy and...more
10/8/2018
/ #MeToo ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Culture ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Harassment ,
Hostile Environment ,
Risk Management ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Title VII ,
Tone At The Top
Effective Oct. 9, 2018, New York State employers will be required to provide annual anti-sexual harassment training to all employees, adopt a sexual harassment prevention policy, and provide to employees a complaint form for...more
9/26/2018
/ #MeToo ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Complaint Procedures ,
Corporate Culture ,
Employee Rights ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Policies ,
Harassment ,
Hostile Environment ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
As we previously reported, New York City and New York State (NYS) enacted laws in 2018 concerning workplace sexual harassment. Effective Oct. 9, 2018, New York State employers will be required to provide annual anti-sexual...more
9/18/2018
/ #MeToo ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Complaint Procedures ,
Corporate Culture ,
Employee Rights ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Policies ,
Harassment ,
Hostile Environment ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws