In Part Five of our Roadmap Series, we take a closer look at COVID-19 screening and testing, including best practices and legal implications, as potential tools to maintain a safe workplace.
Can We Screen Our Employees...more
The arrival of the holiday season means that 2020 is just around the corner. In anticipation of the new year, employers should take time to review upcoming changes to the requirements of the New York Paid Family Leave Law...more
11/11/2019
/ Employee Benefits ,
Employee Contributions ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Medical Leave ,
New Guidance ,
NYDFS ,
NYDOL ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Paid Leave ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
New York recently extended its protections of the New York City Human Rights Law to non-employees, including contractors and freelancers, following in the footsteps of New York State, which recently amended its Human Rights...more
On Monday, Governor Cuomo signed into the law the last of four bills aimed at strengthening workplace protections for employees. In mid-July, the Governor signed pay equity, salary history disclosure and hair discrimination...more
Just days before concluding its legislative session, the New York Legislature enacted a law focusing on an employer’s acquisition and use of applicant and employee wage and salary history when making decisions regarding...more
6/28/2019
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
New Legislation ,
NYCHRL ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
The New York State Legislature has passed an amendment to New York’s Achieve Pay Equity Act (the “Act”), which will prohibit pay discrimination against any employee based on his or her membership in any class protected by the...more
6/28/2019
/ Amended Legislation ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
EEO-1 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
NYSHRL ,
Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Protected Class ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Just before the end of its session, the New York Legislature expanded protections against discrimination and harassment under the New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL). The Governor still has to sign the new bill into law,...more
6/28/2019
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Rights ,
NYCHRL ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
Title VII
It’s that time of year! New York State minimum wage rate and overtime exemption salary thresholds are set to increase. The changes go into effect on December 31, 2018 and are summarized below. We also take a moment to focus...more
The wait is over. The New York State Department of Labor (DOL) just released its final guidance with respect to New York State’s new anti-sexual harassment law. The release includes final templates for the model sexual...more
10/3/2018
/ #MeToo ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
NYDOL ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Zero Tolerance Policies
The New York State Department of Labor (DOL), in consultation with the New York State Division of Human Rights (DHR), has released drafts of its model sexual harassment prevention policy, complaint form, and harassment...more
8/28/2018
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Hiring & Firing ,
NYDOL ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Public Comment ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
The Office of Labor Policy & Standards, the office responsible for enforcing NYC’s employment laws, recently released guidance on the new Temporary Schedule Change Law. The law, which took effect on July 18, 2018, was passed...more
In the wake of the #MeToo movement and the nationwide discourse over the prevalence of sexual harassment in the workplace, New York State and New York City have taken aggressive steps to implement stronger protections against...more
5/1/2018
/ #MeToo ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Harassment ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
New Hires ,
New Legislation ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws
Did you get your first request for paid family leave yet? Well it’s finally here – New York State’s Paid Family Leave law finally touched down in workplaces across the state on New Year’s Day. As of this writing, millions of...more
Recent cases in New York and Pennsylvania demonstrate that, at least in some jurisdictions and under some circumstances, a plaintiff can state a valid claim for unlawful gender discrimination based on a spouse’s jealousy....more
Beginning on January 1, 2018, New York employers will have to provide paid family leave to their employees. With less than 3 months to go, the law is already in effect in many ways and employers are strongly urged to take...more
Last month, the EEOC filed a lawsuit against Estee Lauder in a Pennsylvania federal court alleging that Estee Lauder’s parental leave policy discriminates against employees on the basis of gender by providing unequal benefits...more
9/28/2017
/ Caregivers ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Maternity Leave ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Paid Leave ,
Parental Leave ,
Paternity Leave ,
Sex Discrimination
No matter how long you’ve played the game, administering a Reduction-in-Force or RIF is never easy. In fact, it is often painful not only because they are difficult to administer, but because of the toll it takes on the...more
Harassment has long been an Achilles’ heel of the workplace. Believe it or not, like the NCAA’s tournament TV ratings, the number of harassment-related lawsuits has held rather steady since the 1990s! And like most NCAA...more
3/16/2017
/ Cyber Crimes ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Harassment ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Managers ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Social Media ,
Supervisors
This time of year usually marks the sports netherworld between the Super Bowl and the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament, which is better known as March Madness. This lull provides employers with an excellent...more
It’s our favorite time of year over at Employment Matters – March Madness! Let’s quickly recap where we’ve been.
In 2014 we provided a rundown on the issues employers should consider when dealing with March Madness in...more
On February 16, 2017, the New York State Industrial Board of Appeals invalidated and revoked the NYS Department of Labor regulations governing payment of wages by direct deposit or payroll debit card. The regulations were...more
The Fourth Circuit recently ruled that a general contractor was the joint employer of employees of its subcontractor for purposes of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Salinas v. Commercial Interiors, Inc. has broad implications...more
On February 16, 2017, the New York State Industrial Board of Appeals invalidated and revoked the NYS Department of Labor regulations we wrote about previously (and updated here) governing payment of wages by direct deposit or...more
In October, we wrote about the new NYSDOL regulations for employers who use direct deposit and/or payroll debit cards to pay their employees. The regulations take effect on March 7, 2017 – just about a month from now – and...more
The Second Circuit recently adopted the “Cat’s Paw” theory of liability in Title VII cases. This was hardly a surprise as other Circuit Courts had done the same after the United States Supreme Court endorsed Cat’s Paw in a...more