On March 4, 2025, the New York Senate passed Senate Bill S372 (the “No Severance Ultimatums Act” or “S372”)....more
On February 21, 2025, as Michigan employers were preparing to comply with the provisions of the Earned Sick Time Act (the “Original ESTA”) taking effect that day, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed a last-minute bill (the...more
Don’t finalize your 2025 handbooks just yet!
On January 2, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated a permanent injunction, which had blocked a requirement that New York employers with...more
This week, we asked a few of our labor and employment attorneys to recap the most significant challenges their clients faced in 2024:
It has been a pivotal year for employers, marked by challenges to federal agency...more
The November 2024 general election saw the approval of a number of state ballot measures, as our colleagues reported here.
Among those measures are a new paid sick leave (PSL) law in Nebraska and paid sick and safe leave...more
12/12/2024
/ Alaska ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Labor Reform ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Sick Leave ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
With 2024 winding down, New York employers should be aware of the updates to the New York State Paid Family Leave (PFL) program that take effect in 2025....more
Starting on February 21, 2025, every Michigan employer, regardless of size, must provide their employees with up to 72 hours of sick leave annually....more
We previously wrote about a Michigan Supreme Court decision to reinstate two voter initiatives – the Wage Act and the Earned Sick Time Act (ESTA) – and state agency responses to that decision (the “Original Order”), which...more
In recent years, advocates and lawmakers have been pushing to expand the reach of “ban-the-box” measures designed to remove job barriers for individuals with criminal convictions....more
The Tenth Circuit recently reaffirmed that employers may lawfully enforce a policy against surreptitious recordings.
In Spagnolia v. Charter Communications, LLC, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit...more
9/11/2024
/ Employee Benefits ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Lactation Accommodation ,
Policy Violations ,
Popular ,
Pretext ,
Protected Activity ,
Retaliation ,
Secret Recordings
On August 22, 2024, the Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Opportunity (LEO) issued a press release on the heels of the Mothering Justice decision, about which we previously wrote, and which will drastically change the...more
8/26/2024
/ Hospitality Industry ,
Minimum Wage ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Sick Leave ,
State Labor Laws ,
Tip Credit ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
The Michigan Supreme Court has written the latest, and perhaps last, chapter of an ongoing saga affecting most Michigan employers. In Mothering Justice v. Attorney General, the Michigan Supreme Court fully restored sweeping...more
8/8/2024
/ Employee Benefits ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Labor Reform ,
MI Supreme Court ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
State Labor Laws ,
Tip Credit ,
Tipped Employees ,
Wage and Hour
The Michigan Supreme Court has written the latest, and perhaps last, chapter of an ongoing saga affecting most Michigan employers. In Mothering Justice v. Attorney General, the Michigan Supreme Court fully restored sweeping...more
8/8/2024
/ Compensation & Benefits ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Labor Reform ,
MI Supreme Court ,
Minimum Wage ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Tip Credit ,
Tipped Employees ,
Tips ,
Wage and Hour
The New York City Council recently amended Sections 8-109 and 8-502 of the New York City Administrative Code, directly affecting employment agreements.
...more
8/6/2024
/ City of New York ,
Discrimination ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Harassment ,
Hostile Environment ,
Local Ordinance ,
NYCCHR ,
NYCHRL ,
Workplace Safety ,
Workplace Violence
All New York employers are now required to provide 30-minute paid lactation breaks following a recent amendment to Labor Law § 206-c.
New York State has long required employers to support working mothers by providing...more
7/3/2024
/ Breastfeeding ,
Employee Rights ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Labor Reform ,
Lactation Accommodation ,
New York ,
Pregnancy ,
Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (“PUMP Act”) ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
State Labor Laws
In the latest paid leave law development out of New York, the New York City Council amended the City's Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (ESSTA) to create a private right of action....more
2/2/2024
/ Earned Sick Time ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
New York ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Sick Leave ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
In this special year-end episode, recorded live from our 42nd Annual Workforce Management Briefing in New York City, Epstein Becker Green attorneys discuss the biggest employment law trends and crucial workforce changes in...more
On November 17, 2023, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law Senate Bill 4516 (the “Act”). The Act amends Section 5-336 of the New York General Obligations Law to (1) prohibit employers from including certain...more
As we reported in the first installment of our series on pay transparency, pay equity legislation continues to trend nationwide. While Part I focused on salary range disclosure legislation, in Part II, we highlight mandatory...more
11/27/2023
/ EEO-1 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Data ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Transparency ,
Reporting Requirements ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
For New York employers, fall has brought with it more than just cooler temperatures, thanks to a wave of activity from Governor Kathy Hochul’s desk (after a busy legislative summer). Below, we highlight six significant...more
11/13/2023
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Inventors ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Inventions ,
Labor Reform ,
New Legislation ,
New York ,
Ownership of Works ,
Political Expression ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Social Media ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unemployment Insurance ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour
The start of autumn means cooler weather, falling leaves, and, for employers with New York employees, updates to the New York Paid Family Leave (“Paid Family Leave”) program....more
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently proposed regulations (the “Proposed Rule”) to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations for...more
9/28/2023
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Employee Rights ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Labor Reform ,
Pregnancy ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Title VII
As employers throughout New York State are now determining how to comply with the newest State-wide pay transparency law, which took effect on September 17, 2023, the New York State Department of Labor (DOL) released proposed...more
9/20/2023
/ Disclosure Requirements ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Ads ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Reform ,
New Regulations ,
New York ,
NYDOL ,
Pay Transparency ,
Proposed Regulation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
The time has come – New York employers are reminded that a statewide salary transparency law goes into effect on September 17, 2023. While many employers in New York City, Westchester County, the City of Ithaca and Albany...more
9/8/2023
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Ads ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Reform ,
New Regulations ,
New York ,
Pay Transparency ,
Salaried Employees ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Shortly before amendments to New York State’s Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act (the “Act”) took effect on June 7, 2023, the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) published a model breast milk expression in the...more