Retail employers in New York will soon need to implement comprehensive safety measures designed to address the increasing problem of workplace violence. Last week, Governor Hochul signed into law the Retail Worker Safety Act...more
New York City employers should review their handbooks and employment agreements to ensure they comply with a new law that took effect May 11. Lawmakers recently amended the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL) to prohibit...more
New York City recently enacted a law requiring businesses to provide a “workers’ Bill of Rights” to employees – so you should add this new requirement to your 2024 to-do list. The New York City Council passed the measure...more
For the first time ever, app-based restaurant delivery workers in New York City – engaged as independent contractors – are set to make a minimum wage. The nation’s first-of-its-kind law is set to have a massive impact, as it...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
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
Acknowledging that more and more employees are working from home and away from their physical worksites, the New York State legislature just passed a bill on April 26 requiring employers make mandatory workplace postings...more
New York already has some of the strongest anti-harassment and anti-discrimination laws in the country, due in large part to sweeping amendments to the state’s anti-discrimination laws in 2018 and 2019. Nevertheless, New York...more
In the City’s latest effort to combat gender and race-based pay inequity, the New York City Council passed a salary transparency bill at the end of last year, and it was enacted on January 15 after Mayor Eric Adams took no...more
Year two of the COVID-19 pandemic brought many new legislative changes for New York employers, altering the landscape around workplace safety, employee pay, leave benefits, protected classes and activity, and privacy. Now...more
12/29/2021
/ Amended Legislation ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Decriminalization of Marijuana ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Electronic Monitoring ,
Employee Monitoring ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Fair Chance Act ,
Fast-Food Industry ,
Health and Essential Rights (HERO) Act ,
Health and Safety ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Just Cause ,
Marijuana ,
Masks ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Legislation ,
Notice Requirements ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Paid Leave ,
Popular ,
Quarantine ,
Recreational Use ,
Retirement ,
Retirement Plan ,
Retirement Plan Providers ,
Salaried Employees ,
Sick Leave ,
State Labor Laws ,
Tip Credit ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Unpaid Leave ,
Vaccinations ,
Wage and Hour ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers ,
Workplace Safety
New York employers who monitor employee’s telephone calls, e-mails, or internet use must soon provide written notice to employees. The change comes during an era where many employees are communicating with each other via...more
With January 1, 2021 quickly approaching, it’s crunch time for New York employers to prepare to comply with the new statewide sick leave law. New York employers have been grappling with questions surrounding the New York Paid...more
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, New York State has passed legislation guaranteeing most workers in the state paid sick leave starting next year. This is in addition to the emergency COVID-19 related sick leave enacted by the...more
As New York continues to be hard hit by the effects of COVID-19, Governor Cuomo announced a three-way agreement on March 17 between his office and both houses of the New York State Legislature on a bill guaranteeing job...more
3/19/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Disability Benefits ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
New Legislation ,
Paid Leave ,
Quarantine ,
Sick Leave ,
Unpaid Leave ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
New York employers will soon be required to pay an estimated 70,000 tipped workers the full minimum wage, regardless of any tips received. Governor Andrew Cuomo just announced on December 31 that the New York State Department...more
Following in the footsteps of New York City, which earlier this year prohibited employers from discriminating against applicants or employees based on their sexual and reproductive health decisions, New York State has...more
12/12/2019
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Decision-Making Process ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Governor Cuomo ,
New Legislation ,
Reproductive Discrimination ,
State Labor Laws
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
Suffolk County joins New York City, Albany County, and Westchester County to become the latest jurisdiction in New York to ban employers from asking about a job applicant’s salary history. The Restrict Information Regarding...more
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
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes for the past few years—and this past month...more
9/17/2018
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Background Checks ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Class Action ,
Collective Action Waivers ,
Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act (CCRAA) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Failed Legislation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Freedom of Religion ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Gig Economy ,
Governor Baker ,
Governor Brown ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (ICRAA) ,
Licenses ,
Misclassification ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
OFCCP ,
Opinion Letter ,
Opioid ,
Over-Time ,
Pay Gap ,
Pending Legislation ,
Portable Benefits ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Ridesharing ,
Right to Work ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Union Dues ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Injury
On July 18, 2018, the New York City Temporary Schedule Change Law took effect. As we previously reported, under the new law, eligible employees have a right to temporary changes to their work schedule for certain “personal...more
On the heels of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a slate of legislation last week aimed at preventing sexual harassment in the workplace. Entitled the “Stop Sexual Harassment in NYC Act,” the...more
5/16/2018
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Mayor de Blasio ,
New Legislation ,
Notice Requirements ,
Pre-Dispute Arbitration ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Statute of Limitations
Westchester County has enacted a Wage History Anti-Discrimination Law which will soon make it illegal for employers to ask potential employees their salary history. The law was passed by the County Board of Legislators on...more
Employers operating in New York will soon face a raft of new sexual harassment laws. The state budget bill for the 2019 fiscal year approved by the New York State Legislature on March 31 and signed into law by Governor Andrew...more
4/16/2018
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Mandatory Arbitration ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Non-Employees ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Workplace Communication