New York State recently granted both private and public employees up to four hours of paid leave per injection to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. While the basics of the leave were outlined in newly added New York Labor Law...more
New York employees are likely to soon receive paid leave to take their COVID-19 vaccination. One month after the New York State Assembly passed the bill, the New York State Senate unanimously voted 62-0 on March 1 to grant...more
Approximately 10 months after New York state enacted a law providing paid leave for New York workers who have been quarantined or isolated as a result of COVID-19 (COVID-19 Sick Leave), the New York State Department of Labor...more
With January 1, 2021 quickly approaching, it’s crunch time for New York employers to prepare to comply with the new statewide sick leave law. New York employers have been grappling with questions surrounding the New York Paid...more
New York businesses who employ home healthcare workers or employees covered by the state prevailing wage laws must prepare to comply with changes to the state’s wage notice law. As part of the state budget, lawmakers amended...more
New York is reverting to its pre-2019 voting leave law, as employers will now only need to provide their workers with two hours of paid voting time rather than three. This change is effectively immediately, so New York...more
Both New York and the federal government passed laws providing leave for employees impacted by COVID-19, leaving employers in New York grappling to understand how the two laws intersect. New York employers are required to...more
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, New York State has passed legislation guaranteeing most workers in the state paid sick leave starting next year. This is in addition to the emergency COVID-19 related sick leave enacted by the...more
New York employers will soon be required to pay an estimated 70,000 tipped workers the full minimum wage, regardless of any tips received. Governor Andrew Cuomo just announced on December 31 that the New York State Department...more
In anticipation of New York’s 2020 legislative session, state lawmakers are beginning to develop a proposal to regulate the gig economy – and the news isn’t good for businesses. As we discussed in an entry back in September,...more
Following in the footsteps of New York City, which earlier this year prohibited employers from discriminating against applicants or employees based on their sexual and reproductive health decisions, New York State has...more
12/12/2019
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Decision-Making Process ,
Employee Handbooks ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Governor Cuomo ,
New Legislation ,
Reproductive Discrimination ,
State Labor Laws
With another busy year for employment law legislation throughout New York State and New York City coming to a close, New York employers should be aware of new employment laws that will take effect in 2020, as well as laws...more
12/10/2019
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Minimum Salary ,
Minimum Wage ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Tip Credit ,
Tipped Employees ,
Wage and Hour
“Anything you can do, I can do better.” That’s essentially the sentiment floating around Albany these days as New York lawmakers look enviously towards California and its groundbreaking new law that will soon revolutionize...more
Governor Andrew Cuomo just signed into effect an amendment to New York law expanding the protections employers must provide to employees who are victims of domestic violence. In addition to expanded protections against...more
New York Governor Cuomo just signed into effect an amendment to state law which expressly prohibits discrimination against employees based on clothing or facial hair worn in accordance with the employee’s religion. The...more
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently signed legislation amending state law to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on hair texture or protective hairstyles as race-based discrimination. The new law took effect...more
8/9/2019
/ Amended Legislation ,
Dress Codes ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Hairstyle Discrimination ,
Human Rights ,
NYCHRL ,
NYSHRL ,
Race Discrimination ,
State Labor Laws
An agreement to arbitrate sexual harassment claims is enforceable, according to a recent decision handed down by a federal judge in the Southern District of New York, despite a state law purporting to ban mandatory...more
8/2/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Mandatory Arbitration ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws
This past week was a busy one for New York State lawmakers. In addition to passing game-changing legislation overhauling the state’s discrimination laws, the New York State Senate and Assembly just passed two pay equity bills...more
6/24/2019
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Job Applicants ,
New Legislation ,
Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Protected Class ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Still grappling with the expansive sexual harassment reforms passed last year, New York businesses and employers will soon need to manage through yet another expansive suite of amendments that will continue the state’s...more
6/21/2019
/ Amended Legislation ,
Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Confidentiality Agreements ,
Employee Rights ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Human Rights ,
Labor Reform ,
Mandatory Arbitration ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Punitive Damages ,
Retaliation ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Statute of Limitations
A New York federal court recently reinforced the limited geographic scope of the New York City Human Rights Law, a city law which provides broader anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation protections to employees than the New...more
2/26/2019
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dismissals ,
Employment Litigation ,
Former Employee ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Rights ,
State Labor Laws ,
Subject Matter Jurisdiction ,
Terms and Conditions
The New York State Department of Labor recently issued proposed regulations seeking to curb on-call scheduling, “call-in” shifts, and last-minute shift changes. The proposed regulations endeavor to provide employees with more...more
12/19/2018
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Workweek ,
Minimum Wage ,
On-Call Employees ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Public Comment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules
New York City employers will almost certainly need to provide lactation rooms to breastfeeding employees in the near future thanks to a slate of new laws passed by city lawmakers. On October 17, 2018, the City Council passed...more
10/22/2018
/ Breastfeeding ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Lactation Accommodation ,
Mayor de Blasio ,
New Legislation ,
Pending Legislation ,
Pregnancy Discrimination ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
State Labor Laws
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law. While the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace, there have been an unprecedented number of changes for the past few years—and this past month...more
9/17/2018
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Background Checks ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Class Action ,
Collective Action Waivers ,
Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act (CCRAA) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Failed Legislation ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Freedom of Religion ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Gig Economy ,
Governor Baker ,
Governor Brown ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (ICRAA) ,
Licenses ,
Misclassification ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
OFCCP ,
Opinion Letter ,
Opioid ,
Over-Time ,
Pay Gap ,
Pending Legislation ,
Portable Benefits ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Ridesharing ,
Right to Work ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Union Dues ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Injury
Employers in New York have been eagerly awaiting the state’s anticipated model sexual harassment training and policies ever since the state passed significant new sexual harassment laws back in April. That day has finally...more
On July 18, 2018, the New York City Temporary Schedule Change Law took effect. As we previously reported, under the new law, eligible employees have a right to temporary changes to their work schedule for certain “personal...more