Seyfarth Synopsis: The New York Commissioner of Health has declined to extend the designation of COVID-19 as a highly contagious communicable disease under the NY HERO Act. Employers are no longer required to activate their...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The New York legislature has passed or is close to passing a series of bills designed to protect public and private employees from sexual harassment and retaliation. The bills include a ban on no-rehire...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Recently, Congress passed significant new legislation amending the Federal Arbitration Act and precluding employers from mandating that employees arbitrate sexual harassment or sexual assault claims. ...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The New York Commissioner of Health once again extended the designation of COVID-19 as highly contagious, thereby requiring employers to keep their HERO Act safety plans activated through at least March 17,...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: For more than twelve years, there have been efforts in Congress to limit the scope of mandatory employment arbitration agreements to exclude sexual harassment and sexual assault claims. Following the “Me...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Yesterday, Governor Hochul announced that she will lift the mask-or-vaccinate mandate for nearly all public places of business on February 10, 2022. The New York Department of Labor has now revised its...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Governor Hochul announced that she will lift the mask-or-vaccinate mandate for all public places of business on February 10, 2022. However, employees must continue to mask under the New York HERO Act...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Second Circuit held that dismissals without prejudice of FLSA claims are subject to the same judicial or agency scrutiny as dismissals with prejudice of FLSA claims....more
The New York Commissioner of Health once again extended the designation of COVID-19 as highly contagious, thereby requiring employers to keep their HERO Act safety plans activated through at least February 15, 2022. The...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: As of January 4, 2022, New York has adopted the CDC’s recent COVID -19 isolation and quarantine recommendations, which permit individuals to exit isolation after 5 days following a positive COVID-19 test...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In one of his first official acts as New York City’s new Mayor, Eric Adams signed an executive order extending the private worker vaccine mandate implemented in December by the outgoing de Blasio...more
Soon before the ball drops in Times Square for the New Year: (i) the City of New York amended its guidance regarding the mandate that private workers receive the COVID vaccine, as well as confirmed verbally the answers to...more
The New York Commissioner of Health once again extended the designation of COVID-19 as highly contagious, thereby requiring employers to keep their HERO Act safety plans activated through at least January 15, 2022....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: New York City’s chief legal officer has shared some details about what to expect in the forthcoming regulations implementing the City’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for private employers, which takes effect on...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: As they have each year since 2016, the minimum wage and exempt salary threshold will increase for certain New York employers effective December 31, 2021....more
On December 6, 2021, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that, effective December 27, all private sector employers in New York City will be required to ensure that their employees are vaccinated against COVID-19. The Mayor called...more
As we previously reported, arbitration agreements have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, especially with regard to claims for sexual harassment/assault arising during employment....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The New York Department of Labor published “Frequently Asked Questions” which address occupational cannabis issues under the adult-use cannabis and the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA)....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Under a new statute, New York employers are required to notify employees if they intend to monitor their company-controlled phones, email, or internet use....more
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has signed legislation that significantly broadens protections for whistleblowing employees under Section 740 of the New York Labor Law. The amendments, which take effect on January 26, 2022,...more
The New York Commissioner of Health once again extended the designation of COVID-19 as highly contagious, thereby requiring employers to keep their safety plans activated through at least December 15, 2021....more
Seyfarth Synopsis: With little fanfare and no public reporting, the New York Commissioner of Health extended the designation of COVID-19 as highly contagious, thereby requiring employers to keep their safety plans activated...more
The New York Department of Labor published a revised Model Airborne Infectious Disease Exposure Prevention Plan, which provides that workforces that are fully vaccinated need not mask under the HERO Act....more
The New York Health Commissioner has stated that the emergency designation of COVID-19 expires -- for now -- on September 30. And the Department of Labor issued Frequently Asked Questions to guide employers in activating...more
New York State has designated COVID-19 as a highly contagious communicable disease that presents a serious risk of harm to the public health, which means that employers must now activate their workplace safety plans under the...more