On December 22, 2023, Governor Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill that would have imposed a ban on non-compete clauses throughout the state of New York for all employees, regardless of earnings level. We wrote about the Senate and...more
On May 18, 2023, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) issued a non-binding “technical assistance” document that offers employers guidance on the applicability of Title VII to the use of artificial...more
5/24/2023
/ Algorithms ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Disparate Impact ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
New Guidance ,
Title VII
On April 6, 2023, the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (“DCWP”) issued a Final Rule to provide guidance regarding the City’s Automated Employment Decision Tool (“AEDT”) Law, which we covered in more...more
On March 22, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board’s (“NLRB”) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued Memorandum GC 23-05 (the “Memo”), which provides additional guidance on the recent NLRB decision in McLaren Macomb, 372...more
On February 21, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) issued a decision that returns to previous precedent, holding that employers may not offer employees severance agreements that require employees to...more
3/16/2023
/ Confidentiality Agreements ,
Contract Terms ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Hiring & Firing ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Non-Disparagement Provisions ,
Release Agreements ,
Section 7 ,
Separation Agreement ,
Severance Agreements ,
Termination ,
Waivers
Are you confused about the lawsuit filed on November 3, 2022 against Twitter claiming that its recent and impending layoffs violate the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (the “WARN Act”) and state...more
On December 9, our Labor and Employment Group will present its annual full-day webinar on updates and developments in labor and employment law.
Topics to be discussed include state legislative updates, conduct and behavior...more
11/11/2022
/ Age Discrimination ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Free Speech ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Paid Leave ,
Pay Transparency ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Webinars
The New York City Council has recently enacted an ordinance banning artificial intelligence (“AI”) in employment decisions unless the technology has been subject to an independent bias audit within a year of use.
Many...more
On March 3, 2022, President Biden signed into law the “Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021” (the “Act”). The Act, which takes effect immediately, amends the Federal Arbitration Act...more
On October 28, 2021, New York Governor, Kathy Hochul, signed legislation protecting employees who report illegal or dangerous business activities from retaliation by their employers.
These amendments to New York’s...more
In response to COVID-19 vaccination mandates and employer-mandated vaccination policies, federal agencies continue to issue guidance. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the U.S. Health and Human...more
10/28/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
HIPAA Privacy Rule ,
New Guidance ,
OCR ,
PHI ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Religious Accommodation ,
Title VII ,
Undue Hardship ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
The CDC has recently recommended that employers appoint “vaccination ambassadors” to encourage employees to get vaccinated. The EEOC has not commented on the CDC’s recommendation, but based on other pandemic-related guidance...more
We have seen a significant number of OSHA investigations in recent weeks in response to reports of employee deaths and illnesses due to COVID-19. In the height of the pandemic, employers, including nursing homes, were...more
On Friday, April 17, 2020, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its guidance on COVID-19 issues and equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws. The easy to read Q&A format is necessary reading for...more
If you are reading this post, you already know about SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (“COVID-19”), or, coronavirus. There is no shortage of news to absorb and guidance to implement. Federal,...more
3/11/2020
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Best Practices ,
Business Continuity Plans ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Crisis Management ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
OSHA ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Risk Management ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
On January 6, 2020, Governor Ned Lamont signed bipartisan legislation addressing rates of pay for restaurant workers. The Governor vetoed a previous version of the bill which would have applied retroactively and effectively...more
1/29/2020
/ Audits ,
Comment Period ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Governor Lamont ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Legislation ,
Pending Litigation ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Rulemaking Process ,
State Labor Laws ,
Tipped Employees ,
Wage and Hour
Next month, Connecticut legislators from across the political spectrum are set to formally introduce a bill prohibiting employers from inquiring into a job applicant’s age, birthday, or graduation date, unless necessary for a...more
For the first time in sixty years, the U.S Department of Labor is substantively revising the regulation that articulates when two people or businesses are “joint employers” of an employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act...more
In 2019, the New York State Legislature championed a host of employment laws that strengthen protections for employees. One of those laws codified new requirements for non-disclosure agreements, which are effective as of...more
10/16/2019
/ Commission on Human Rights ,
Confidential Information ,
Contract Terms ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Settlement ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws
On September 24, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued its final overtime rule as it relates to the minimum salary threshold for exempt employees. The DOL estimates that 1.3 million workers will be eligible for...more
10/4/2019
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Minimum Salary ,
New Rules ,
Over-Time ,
Salaried Employees ,
Wage and Hour ,
White-Collar Exemptions
Effective May 10, 2020, New York City’s Human Rights Law will prohibit employers from requiring job applicants to submit to a marijuana or THC drug test as a condition of employment, with some limited exceptions. The NYC law...more
I’ve said before and I’ll say it again. Zero-tolerance policies are a bad idea when addressing sexual harassment complaints. In fact, they shouldn’t even apply to complaints about discrimination or workplace infractions. ...more
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently released data detailing breakdowns for the charges of workplace discrimination it received in 2018. Sexual harassment charges increased 13.6% from 2017 – making...more
Last week, we addressed the looming sexual harassment notice and training requirements affecting all New York State and New York City employers. We also wrote about the pending issuance of public resources containing model...more
Both New York State and New York City have passed legislation intended to curtail sexual harassment, while at the same time, expanding accountability for such. These laws impact large and small businesses that operate in the...more