Voters will be deciding more than just who will capture the White House and Congress this Election Day – they’ll also be voting on a slew of state ballot measures that could change your workplace. How can you prepare? Read...more
With only a few days left before New York’s pay transparency law takes effect, the state labor department issued proposed rules aiming to clarify employers’ wage disclosure obligations. Though the regulations are not yet...more
New York lawmakers just passed legislation that would ban employee non-compete agreements, heading to Governor Hochul for consideration. If signed into effect by the governor, the law will be a sea change for New York...more
With the June 19 effective date on the horizon, employers subject to New York’s Warehouse Worker Protection Act should begin preparations to comply with the law’s requirements sooner rather than later. Signed into law at the...more
After a few years of rapid and expansive change to New York’s workplace laws, involving adjustments to workplace safety, employee pay, benefits, and privacy, there was a noticeable slowdown for the state legislature this past...more
1/5/2023
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Breastfeeding ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Health and Essential Rights (HERO) Act ,
Health and Safety ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Leave of Absence ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Legislation ,
New York ,
Nurses ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Pay Transparency ,
Posting Requirements ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Recruitment Policies ,
Salaried Employees ,
Sexual Abuse ,
State Labor Laws ,
Tip Credit ,
Tipped Employees ,
Vaccinations ,
Wage and Hour ,
Warehouses ,
Workers' Compensation Claim ,
Workplace Safety
New York employers who maintain no-fault attendance policies will soon need to change their practices to ensure employees are not penalized in any way for any absence legally protected under federal, state or local law. New...more
Congress just passed a law Wednesday that will prevent employers from forcing victims of sexual harassment and assault to remain quiet in response to alleged abuse, requiring some businesses to alter their business practices...more
As the New York State legislative session came to a close, state lawmakers passed a flurry of laws providing protections to workers, ranging from wage protections for freelance workers, prohibitions against absence control...more
6/10/2022
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Policies ,
Freelance Workers ,
Health and Essential Rights (HERO) Act ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Leave of Absence ,
New Legislation ,
Nurses ,
Over-Time ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Theft ,
Warehouses ,
Workplace Safety
A New York federal court recently held that an employee working remotely from New Jersey solely due to the COVID-19 pandemic cannot assert claims under the New York State and New York City anti-discrimination laws. In...more
With less than three weeks to go before the May 15 effective date of New York City’s salary transparency law requiring employers to disclose the expected salary range on internal and external job listings, the New York City...more
New York City employers need to disclose the expected salary range on internal and external job listings starting on May 15 due to a salary transparency statute enacted by the City earlier this year. While the statute left...more
The New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) recently issued its highly anticipated final regulations regarding New York State Paid Sick Leave (PSL), which allowed employees to start using sick leave at the start of 2021....more
New York employees will soon have greater rights to assert claims of wrongdoing by their employers without retaliatory action. State lawmakers recently amended New York’s whistleblower law protections for private sector...more
New York employers have been anxiously awaiting additional information about how the legalization of recreational marijuana will impact the workplace – and they finally have some. The state’s Office of Cannabis Management...more
New York employers must take immediate steps to comply with statutory requirements aimed at preventing the spread of infectious disease in the workplace. As previously reported, in May New York State passed the NY HERO Act,...more
7/20/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Employment Policies ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
State Labor Laws ,
Statutory Requirements ,
Workplace Safety
Nearly half of all COVID-19-related workplace lawsuits that have been initiated between employees and employers were filed in the past month, according to data collected by the Fisher Phillips COVID-19 Employment Litigation...more
7/6/2020
/ Class Action ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Paid Leave ,
Remote Working ,
Retaliation ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
“Anything you can do, I can do better.” That’s essentially the sentiment floating around Albany these days as New York lawmakers look enviously towards California and its groundbreaking new law that will soon revolutionize...more
This past week was a busy one for New York State lawmakers. In addition to passing game-changing legislation overhauling the state’s discrimination laws, the New York State Senate and Assembly just passed two pay equity bills...more
6/24/2019
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Job Applicants ,
New Legislation ,
Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Protected Class ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
A New York federal court recently reinforced the limited geographic scope of the New York City Human Rights Law, a city law which provides broader anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation protections to employees than the New...more
2/26/2019
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dismissals ,
Employment Litigation ,
Former Employee ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Rights ,
State Labor Laws ,
Subject Matter Jurisdiction ,
Terms and Conditions
The New Year has brought long-awaited and historic change to the legal rights of the LBGTQ community in the Empire State. On January 15, the State Assembly and State Senate voted to pass the Gender Expression...more
1/17/2019
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender Expression ,
Gender Identity ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Human Rights ,
LGBTQ ,
Pending Legislation ,
Protected Class ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Transgender
The New York State Department of Labor recently issued proposed regulations seeking to curb on-call scheduling, “call-in” shifts, and last-minute shift changes. The proposed regulations endeavor to provide employees with more...more
12/19/2018
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Workweek ,
Minimum Wage ,
On-Call Employees ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Public Comment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules
New York City employers will almost certainly need to provide lactation rooms to breastfeeding employees in the near future thanks to a slate of new laws passed by city lawmakers. On October 17, 2018, the City Council passed...more
10/22/2018
/ Breastfeeding ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Lactation Accommodation ,
Mayor de Blasio ,
New Legislation ,
Pending Legislation ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
State Labor Laws
With the rise of the #MeToo movement, many are left wondering why so few victims of sexual harassment spoke up before. A psychological disconnect called “affective forecasting error” helps to explain this failure. Affective...more
New York City employers will soon be required to expand existing protections against sexual orientation and gender discrimination due to an amendment to the definitions of these terms under the New York City Human Rights Law...more
The New York City legislature just enacted an amendment to the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL) which codifies an employer’s obligation to engage in a cooperative dialogue with any employee who may be entitled to a...more