The city (and state) that never sleeps kept busy last year, enacting various laws that affect New York State and City employers in 2022. Below are some of the more recent enactments that employers should pay particular...more
1/10/2022
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Health and Essential Rights (HERO) Act ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Masks ,
Minimum Salary ,
New York ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Sick Leave ,
State and Local Government ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
Last week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the state disaster emergency he declared on March 7, 2020, due to COVID-19 would officially end after June 24, 2021. He then signed Executive Order No. 210, which...more
7/1/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Executive Orders ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
New York ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Safety Precautions ,
State and Local Government ,
State of Emergency ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
During a May 10, 2021 press conference, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his intention to propose legislation aimed at stopping discrimination against those who choose to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. Unlike many...more
On May 3, 2021, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced a significant easing of COVID-19-related capacity restrictions on businesses in their respective states. Governor Ned Lamont of...more
On April 8, 2021, New Mexico’s Governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, signed House Bill 20, the Healthy Workplaces Act (“Act”). Effective July 1, 2022, all private employers must provide eligible employees in New Mexico up to 64...more
New York employers no longer have to ponder if and how they should incentivize their employees to get vaccinated. Effective March 12, 2021, Senate Bill S2588A creates Labor Law Section 196-C, “Leave for COVID-19 Vaccination”...more
On January 10, 2021, Int. 1314-A (“Law”) was enacted, and it goes into effect on July 28, 2021. The Law significantly expands job applicants’ protections under New York City’s Fair Chance Act (“FCA”), otherwise known as the...more
3/11/2021
/ Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Criminal Records ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Labor Regulations ,
New York ,
State and Local Government
On September 30, 2020, New York’s Paid Sick Leave Law (“Law” or “PSLL”) will take effect. The Law applies to all private employers and employees, and as we have previously reported, starting September 30, 2020, employees in...more
As we previously reported, in 2019, the New York City Commission on Human Rights (“Commission”) provided legal enforcement guidance (“Enforcement Guidance”) advising that workplace grooming and appearance policies “that ban,...more
8/10/2020
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Commission on Human Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Hairstyle Discrimination ,
NYCHRL ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Hearing ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
The times they are a-changin’ and Washington’s rules relating to overtime pay are changing with them. Effective July 1, 2020, the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (“L&I”) has updated the criteria for workers...more
As we have previously reported, since June 2019, the Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave (the “DFML”) has proposed and adopted several “technical changes” and clarifications to the Massachusetts Paid Family...more
New York State has issued guidance in the form of Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQs”) regarding the State’s new COVID-19 Leave Law (the “Law”). ...more
On March 10, 2020, Colorado Governor Jared Polis issued an executive order directing he Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (“DLE”) to create emergency rules to “ensure workers in food handling, hospitality, child...more
3/16/2020
/ Best Practices ,
Business Continuity Plans ,
China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employees ,
Crisis Management ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Food Service Workers ,
Franchises ,
Health and Safety ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Public Health ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Risk Management ,
Sick Leave ,
Sick Pay ,
State and Local Government ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
On January 29, 2020, the House of Representatives passed the Comprehensive CREDIT Act of 2020 (the “Act”), which would change federal laws pertaining to consumer reporting agencies and credit checks in a number of ways....more
2/18/2020
/ Credit Checks ,
Credit Reporting Agencies ,
Credit Reports ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Labor Regulations ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Local Ordinance ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Screening Procedures ,
State and Local Government
As previously discussed, Colorado has taken steps to increase the salary threshold for employees that fall under the “white collar” exemptions, following in the footsteps of Alaska, California, New York, Maine, and Washington...more
2/12/2020
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Labor Regulations ,
Minimum Salary ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Salaried Employees ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
As previously discussed, the federal Department of Labor has begun the process of increasing the minimum salary threshold for employees that fall under the “white collar” exemptions. Joining Alaska, New York, and California,...more
12/24/2019
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Labor Regulations ,
Minimum Salary ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Salaried Employees ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
After a false start three years ago, the federal Department of Labor (“DOL”) will finally be rolling out an increased minimum salary threshold for employees qualifying under the “white collar” exemptions. The increase in the...more
11/19/2019
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Highly Compensated Employees ,
Labor Regulations ,
Local Ordinance ,
Minimum Salary ,
Municipalities ,
Non-Exempt Employees ,
Over-Time ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Salaried Employees ,
Standard Duties Test ,
State and Local Government ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
The New York City Commission on Human Rights (“the Commission”) published a legal enforcement guidance (“Guidance”) clarifying its standards with respect to discrimination based on actual or perceived immigration status and...more
10/31/2019
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Commission on Human Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Enforcement Guidance ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigration Status Discrimination ,
Independent Contractors ,
Job Applicants ,
National Origin Discrimination ,
NYCHRL ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
As we previously reported, the Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave (“DFML”) has been providing on-going substantive and procedural regulations and guidance to effectuate the state’s Paid Family and Medical...more
10/29/2019
/ 1099s ,
Covered Employees ,
Employee Definition ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Gig Economy ,
H-2A ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
New Guidance ,
Posting Requirements ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Rulemaking Process ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Threshold Requirements ,
Wage and Hour ,
Withholding Requirements
As we enter the last quarter of 2019 and the business community begins to plan ahead for 2020, New York employers should be aware of the changes coming to the New York Paid Family Leave (“NYPFL”) program. On January 1, 2020,...more
In response to mounting attention to the #MeToo movement, on June 19, 2019, the New York State Legislature passed Assembly Bill A8421 / Senate Bill 6577 (“Bill”), a measure that is even more far-reaching and, thus,...more
The New York State Department of Labor (“NYSDOL”) recently announced that it would no longer pursue employee scheduling regulations concerning “call-in” (or “on-call”) pay and other so-called predictive scheduling matters. As...more
3/11/2019
/ Fair Workweek ,
Labor Regulations ,
NYDOL ,
On-Call Employees ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules
Earlier this year, the New York City Council passed a series of laws known as the Stop Sexual Harassment Act (“Act”). The New York City Commission on Human Rights (“Commission”) has now issued additional information and...more
The 2018-2019 New York State Budget (“Budget”), which was enacted on April 12, 2018, includes several new state laws concerning sexual harassment in the workplace that will affect both public and private employers. (For those...more