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
Smaller employers are in far greater danger of being the targets of COVID-19 workplace litigation, as are healthcare employers and other businesses requiring an in-person workforce –Fisher Phillips uncovered in its latest...more
Just days before New York’s statewide paid sick leave law (NYPSL) takes effect on September 30, the New York City council passed a suite of amendments to NYC’s existing Earned Safe and Sick Leave Law (ESSL), in part aligning...more
9/30/2020
/ Amended Legislation ,
Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Local Ordinance ,
Mayor de Blasio ,
Notice Requirements ,
Paid Leave ,
Posting Requirements ,
Safe Leave ,
Sick Leave ,
Wage and Hour
The state of New York has not been immune to the fast-growing COVID-19 employment litigation case load. This should come as no surprise to businesses located here, given that New York has been one of the states hit hardest by...more
7/24/2020
/ Class Action ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Retaliation ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Wage and Hour ,
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
Suffolk County, New York will soon follow other state and local governments that have enacted “ban the box” legislation focusing on an applicant’s qualifications for a position prior to considering the applicant’s possible...more
New York businesses who employ home healthcare workers or employees covered by the state prevailing wage laws must prepare to comply with changes to the state’s wage notice law. As part of the state budget, lawmakers amended...more
Governor Cuomo recently issued an Executive Order directing essential businesses to provide face coverings to their employees when in direct contact with customers or members of the public, at the expense of the employer. The...more
Both New York and the federal government passed laws providing leave for employees impacted by COVID-19, leaving employers in New York grappling to understand how the two laws intersect. New York employers are required to...more
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
Gig workers in New York City recently gained a suite of workplace protections normally reserved for employees. The City Council amended its antidiscrimination laws in September to cover independent contractors, meaning that...more
Governor Andrew Cuomo just signed into effect an amendment to New York law expanding the protections employers must provide to employees who are victims of domestic violence. In addition to expanded protections against...more
New York Governor Cuomo just signed into effect an amendment to state law which expressly prohibits discrimination against employees based on clothing or facial hair worn in accordance with the employee’s religion. The...more
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently signed legislation amending state law to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on hair texture or protective hairstyles as race-based discrimination. The new law took effect...more
8/9/2019
/ Amended Legislation ,
Dress Codes ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Hairstyle Discrimination ,
Human Rights ,
NYCHRL ,
NYSHRL ,
Race Discrimination ,
State Labor Laws
Westchester County employers will soon need to provide paid safe time leave to employees who are the victims of domestic violence or human trafficking. Earlier this year, county lawmakers passed the Safe Time Leave for...more
An agreement to arbitrate sexual harassment claims is enforceable, according to a recent decision handed down by a federal judge in the Southern District of New York, despite a state law purporting to ban mandatory...more
8/2/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Mandatory Arbitration ,
Sexual Harassment ,
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
Still grappling with the expansive sexual harassment reforms passed last year, New York businesses and employers will soon need to manage through yet another expansive suite of amendments that will continue the state’s...more
6/21/2019
/ Amended Legislation ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Employee Rights ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Human Rights ,
Labor Reform ,
Mandatory Arbitration ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Punitive Damages ,
Retaliation ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Statute of Limitations
The New York City Council just passed legislation which will prohibit employers from requiring a prospective employee to submit to drug testing for the presence of tetrahydrocannabinols (THC), the active ingredient in...more
In its final session of the year, the New York City Council voted to prohibit employment discrimination based on an individual’s reproductive health choices. On December 20, the Council approved an amendment to the New York...more
12/24/2018
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Family Planning Clinics ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Rights ,
Job Applicants ,
Local Ordinance ,
New Amendments ,
Protected Class ,
Reproductive Discrimination
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
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