In Ames v. Ohio Dep’t of Youth Servs., No. 23-1039, 2025 WL 1583264, (U.S. June 5, 2025), the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that majority group plaintiffs (in this instance, a heterosexual plaintiff) do not need to meet...more
More than a year has passed since the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held in its April 2024 decision in Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, Missouri, 601 U.S. 346, 144 S. Ct. 967, 218 L. Ed. 2d 322 (2024) that employees need only...more
In February 2024, we reported the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a Final Rule revising the DOL’s guidance on how to analyze who is an employee or independent contractor for purposes of minimum wage and overtime pay...more
Harris Beach Murtha invites you to join us as we discuss key employment law issues affecting physician practices in New York State. Topics will include Restrictive Covenants, Handling Sexual Harassment in the Workplace, Paid...more
5/1/2025
/ Continuing Legal Education ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Policies ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
New York ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Physicians ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Wage and Hour ,
Webinars
The EEOC and Department of Justice have weighed in on DEI in the workplace.
In two guidance documents, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) presented its stance for employers to steer clear of illegal...more
3/26/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employee Training ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
New Guidance ,
Title VII
The Labor and Employment Team at Harris Beach Murtha invites you to join us for discussion of critical labor and employment law developments. Our first session will cover President Trump’s First 100 Days – Labor and...more
3/25/2025
/ Continuing Legal Education ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
Immigration Enforcement ,
NLRB ,
Trump Administration ,
Webinars
On February 26, 2025, Andrew N. Ferguson, the newly appointed Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), issued a memorandum outlining the agency’s populist agenda and directing the formation of a “Joint Labor Task Force”...more
3/7/2025
/ Advertising ,
Anticompetitive Behavior ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Gig Economy ,
Labor Reform ,
No-Poaching ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Wage-Fixing
After a three-year pause, New York is again requiring employers to provide notice of employees’ rights under the state’s Reproductive Health Bias Law in employee handbooks....more
1/27/2025
/ Appeals ,
Compliance ,
Consent ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Employee Rights ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Notice Requirements ,
Permanent Injunctions ,
Reproductive Healthcare Issues ,
State Labor Laws
A recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court solidified the evidentiary standard of proof for federal wage law disputes where employers seek to establish their employees are appropriately classified as exempt under the Fair...more
1/23/2025
/ Appeals ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
EMD Sales Inc v Carrera ,
Employment Litigation ,
Evidence ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
Misclassification ,
Over-Time ,
SCOTUS ,
Standard of Proof ,
Wage and Hour
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently released a “fact sheet” concerning employer mandates that require employees to use wearable technologies. According to the EEOC, such requirements could violate...more
1/8/2025
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
GINA ,
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Title VII ,
Wearable Technology
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
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have agreed to team up to investigate and enforce protections for workers who raise safety concerns and suffer retaliation as...more
11/3/2023
/ Labor Law Violations ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
OSH Act ,
OSHA ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Retaliation ,
Section 7 ,
Statutory Violations ,
Supervision and Collaboration Agreements ,
Workplace Hazards ,
Workplace Safety
Today, the U.S. Department of Labor announced a proposal to increase the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) salary-level threshold from $35,568 to $55,068, which would result in many more employees being entitled to overtime...more
On August 2, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) adopted a new standard for assessing whether workplace rules, including policies found in handbooks, infringe upon employees’ rights under Section 7 of the National...more
On June 20, the New York State Assembly passed Bill A1278B, which, together with New York State Senate’s passage of identical legislation, Bill 3100A earlier this month, would render all non-compete agreements signed or...more
Connecticut’s legislature has amended the state’s physician noncompete law to provide for additional restrictions on physician noncompete agreements. (Public Act No. 23-97). In addition, Connecticut has extended noncompete...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
The U.S. Department of Labor has announced that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has initiated a National Emphasis Program (NEP) to prevent falls in the workplace, which OSHA states is the leading...more
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
New York State’s Pay Transparency Law is set to take effect on September 17, 2023. The law was amended on March 3, 2023, well in advance of its effective date, to clarify, limit and expand various employer obligations....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
Last month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released its Draft Strategic Enforcement Plan for 2023- 2027 (SEP), and invited the public to submit comments by February 9, 2023.
The EEOC continues to...more
On January 1, 2023, Connecticut Public Act No. 21-32[1] the “Clean Slate” law expanded protections for applicants and employees with criminal records. Employers are prohibited from requesting information about, making hiring...more
On December 9, 2022, Governor Hochul signed legislation expanding New York’s required accommodations for breastfeeding in the workplace.
New York employers were already required to provide employees with reasonable break...more