With menopause health benefits emerging as a tool in the war for talent, Rhode Island has recently taken steps to provide express protections related to an employee’s menopause and related conditions. In addition, the state...more
Employers in New York, Connecticut, and Vermont should take note of a recent Second Circuit decision holding that an employee may still be entitled to a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act...more
The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (“WHD”) has issued an opinion letter stating that employers cannot require employees to substitute accrued paid time off during a Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) leave...more
1/16/2025
/ Compliance ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Rights ,
Employment Policies ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
On July 24, 2024, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of a preliminary injunction seeking to bar enforcement of New Jersey’s Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights Law (the “Law”). The Circuit Court found that...more
On April 8, 2024, National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) General Counsel (“GC”) Jennifer Abruzzo released a Memorandum providing guidance to Regional Directors, Officers-in-Charge, and Resident Officers concerning the GC’s...more
In King v. Aramark Services, Inc., No. 22-1237 (March 20, 2024), a Second Circuit panel affirmed the dismissal of claims under the New York State Human Rights Law (“NYSHRL”), concluding that under New York’s “impact test,”...more
4/18/2024
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Continuing Violation Theory ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Hostile Environment ,
Human Rights ,
New York ,
Remote Working ,
Retaliation ,
Summary Judgment ,
Title VII
The New York City Council has passed a bill that creates a private right of action for individuals claiming violations of the NYC Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (“ESSTA”). The Council presented the bill to Mayor Eric Adams on...more
Individuals with a variety of hearing conditions may have disabilities covered by the ADA.
Pre-job offer disability-related questions can violate the ADA, but certain questions regarding the ability of a candidate to...more
1/30/2023
/ Canada ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Guidance Update ,
Interpreters ,
Job Applicants ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Sick Leave ,
Undue Hardship ,
Wellness Programs
Effective March 17, 2022, the New York State Commissioner of Health has ended the designation of COVID-19 as an airborne infectious disease under the New York HERO Act. As a result, employers are no longer required to enforce...more
3/21/2022
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Health and Essential Rights (HERO) Act ,
Infectious Diseases ,
New York ,
Occupational Exposure ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Safety Management Systems ,
Safety Standards ,
Workplace Safety
On January 25, 2022, OSHA filed a notice withdrawing its Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”). The ETS had mandated that employers with 100 or more employees require all employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or to...more
1/26/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Lack of Authority ,
National Federation of Independent Business v Department of Labor and OSHA ,
OSHA ,
SCOTUS ,
Vaccinations ,
Virus Testing ,
Workplace Safety
New York Governor Kathy Hocul has signed into law a bill that will require employers to provide notice to employees of electronic monitoring of telephone, email, and internet access and usage. ...more
On October 31, 2021, the New York State Commissioner of Health continued the designation of COVID-19 as a “highly contagious communicable disease” pursuant to the HERO Act until December 15, 2021. This means that New York...more
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has signed into law a bill that will require certain private employers in the state to automatically enroll their employees in a state-administered retirement savings plan if the employer does...more
Heeding the adage “no one knows what the future may hold,” the Seventh, Eighth and Eleventh Circuits have uniformly refused to extend protections of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to employees with a perceived risk...more
11/14/2019
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Disability ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Essential Functions ,
Future Impairment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Split of Authority ,
Wrongful Termination
The New York state legislature has passed a bill that would allow employees making certain claims for unpaid wages to obtain a lien against their employers’ property for the value of the claim, inclusive of liquidated...more
7/1/2019
/ Books & Records ,
Call-In Pay ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Liens ,
Liquidated Damages ,
Minimum Wage ,
Payroll Deductions ,
Personal Liability ,
Privately Held Corporations ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Shareholders ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Unpaid Wages
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has ordered the EEOC to reconsider its final regulations on the extent to which an employer may offer incentives to participate in a wellness program without violating the...more
8/23/2017
/ AARP ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
GINA ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Incentives ,
Irreparable Harm ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Self-Funded Health Plans ,
Wellness Programs
The Portland, Oregon City Council has passed an ordinance that will impose a tax surcharge on publicly traded companies whose chief executive officers are paid at least 100 times more than the median pay of other company...more
As we noted in an earlier post, the election of Donald J. Trump likely means that states and municipalities—and not the federal government—will lead the charge on worker-protection issues for the next four years. In this...more
12/7/2016
/ City Councils ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Fair Work Act ,
Fast-Food Industry ,
Flexible Work Arrangements ,
Food Service Workers ,
Pending Legislation ,
Presidential Elections ,
Retail Workers ,
State and Local Government ,
Work Schedules
This Election Day, voters in Arizona and Washington approved measures requiring employers to provide eligible employees with paid sick leave. These states are the latest to join the ever-expanding patchwork of jurisdictions...more
As we have previously discussed in detail in several blogs (New EEOC Regulations Provide Roadmap for Wellness Programs; EEOC Issues Final Rules On Employer-Sponsored Wellness Program Compliance Under the ADA and GINA; and...more
10/27/2016
/ AARP ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Final Rules ,
GINA ,
Incentives ,
Non-Discrimination Rules ,
Wellness Programs
In a 2-1 ruling in DirecTV Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed the NLRB’s ruling that DirecTV must reinstate technicians who were terminated for complaining about a...more
9/23/2016
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
DirectTV ,
Grievance Process ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Satellites ,
Television Service Providers ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Wage and Hour
New York City Public Advocate Letitia James has introduced legislation before the City Council that would amend the New York City Human Rights Law to make it an unlawful employment practice for employers to request job...more
8/22/2016
/ Background Checks ,
City Councils ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
NYCHRL ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Popular ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Salary/Wage History ,
Wage and Hour
An amendment to the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL) introduced before the City Council this week would add current or prior service in the uniformed services as a protected class under the law. If approved by the...more
In Morriss v. BNSF Railway Company, the Eighth Circuit recently held that obesity that is not caused by an underlying physiological condition is not a covered “impairment” for purposes of the Americans with Disabilities Act...more
It may not be well-known that the Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) provides for individual, as well as corporate liability. Therefore, in a matter of importance to Human Resources personnel, supervisors, and their employers,...more