Following in the footsteps of neighboring jurisdictions such as New York City, Albany County, and Massachusetts, on April 10, 2018, Westchester County enacted legislation to ban inquiries into a job applicant’s salary...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
The New York City Council recently passed a bill that will require employers to grant two temporary schedule changes per calendar year to employees for qualifying “personal events.” The law will take effect on July 18, 2018...more
Phew – it has been a whirlwind of a month in the employment law world! Just in time for spring, new laws are popping up like crocuses just about everywhere we turn.
Here is your monthly rundown of the most recent...more
3/9/2018
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Digital Realty Trust Inc v Somers ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
SCOTUS ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour ,
Whistleblowers
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
As we count down to the fast-approaching New Year, one of the most significant changes taking place for employers in New York is the implementation of the New York Paid Family Leave law, which takes effect on January 1, 2018....more
As a reminder, the NYC law prohibiting employers and their agents from inquiring about or relying on an applicant’s salary history goes into effect today...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
Mayor de Blasio recently signed into law five bills collectively called the “Fair Workweek” legislative package, which will significantly impact employers in the retail and fast food industries. The laws are scheduled to take...more
7/10/2017
/ Fair Workweek ,
Fast-Food Industry ,
Food Service Workers ,
Local Ordinance ,
Mayor de Blasio ,
New Legislation ,
Notice Requirements ,
On-Call Employees ,
Part-Time Employees ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Retail Workers ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules
As expected, the New York State Department of Labor (DOL) recently appealed the decision of the New York Industrial Board of Appeals invalidating the DOL regulations concerning employers who use direct deposit or payroll...more
As we recently blogged about here, efforts to ban inquiries related to applicants’ salary history have gained momentum across the country. Last Friday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio joined this trend by signing into law...more
We had such a spirited panel discussion on pay equity at our Third Annual Employment Law Summit recently that we wanted to follow up with a post addressing the current state of play on pay equity legislation, particularly...more
4/21/2017
/ Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Pay ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Paycheck Fairness Act ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Salary/Wage History ,
Title VII ,
Wage and Hour
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
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
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
As 2016 came to a close, New York City became the first in the nation to enact a law establishing payment protections and remedies for freelance workers. On November 16, 2016, Mayor de Blasio signed into law the Freelance...more
With the 9th Circuit’s late summer anti-class action waiver decision, the circuit split widened over the issue of whether employers can require employees, through an arbitration agreement, to waive their rights to bring class...more
11/21/2016
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Enforceability ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Section 7
As the workplace becomes increasingly digitized, both employers and employees can benefit from the conveniences technology provides. Chief among those is the convenience of electronic access to funds, which allows people to...more