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Employment law, whether shaped by legislation or litigation, is often driven by trends. For instance, in the mid-to-late 2010’s, lawmakers across the U.S. enacted numerous bills concerning paid time off for employees, such as for sick and family leave. A more recent trend involves regulatory and legislative efforts to limit or even outright ban non-compete agreements.

In New York State, the most significant employment litigation trend over the past several years has revolved around frequency-of-pay claims under Section 191 of the New York Labor Law (NYLL). This trend emerged from a radical 2019 appellate court decision that broke from more than a century of judicial precedent.

On May 9, 2025, however, Governor Kathy Hochul approved an amendment to the NYLL that should largely put an end to the flood of frequency-of-pay lawsuits.Continue Reading BREAKING: New York amends labor law to stymie flood of frequency-of-pay lawsuits

California is one step closer to becoming one of the first states to adopt anti-discrimination regulations regarding employer use of automated-decision technology to make employment-related decisions.

Since May 2024 the California Civil Rights Council (CRC), a branch of the Civil Rights Department, has made multiple revisions to California’s employment discrimination regulations to address employers’ use of artificial intelligence (AI) automated-decision systems to make employment-related decisions such as hiring, promotion, pay and benefits. The purpose of the proposed regulations is to affirm that California’s anti-discrimination laws protect employees and candidates from discrimination caused by the use of automated systems, and to define circumstances in which the use of automated systems can result in unlawful discrimination. The proposed regulations also address the use of automated systems for background checks and medical or psychological inquiries, and how that use can violate anti-discrimination laws. Additionally, the proposed regulations impose recordkeeping requirements that obligate employers to retain records that may relate to or disclose the employer’s use of automated systems to make employment decisions, including applications, personnel records, membership records, employment referral records, selection criteria, and automated-decision system data.Continue Reading California Civil Rights Council makes final revisions to regulations that address use of AI systems in employment-related decision-making

The workplace accommodation process associated with employee health conditions can be one of the trickiest HR issues for U.S. businesses to navigate. For employers in New York, Connecticut, and Vermont, a federal appeals court may have just added a further layer of complexity.

On March 25, 2025, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals joined a split of federal circuit courts in concluding that employees may qualify for a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) despite being able to perform the essential duties of their job without an accommodation. Moving forward, the Second Circuit will now consider the ability to perform essential functions as probative evidence of whether an accommodation should be granted rather than dispositive.Continue Reading New York Federal Appeals Court shifts standard for assessing workplace accommodations

On December 13, 2024, we wrote on several policies implemented by the Biden administration that were likely to be rolled back, qualified, or reversed entirely once Donald Trump officially took office. On January 20, 2025, the day of President Trump’s inauguration, the Trump Administration began doing just that, beginning with, among other things, an executive order that directly rebuffs guidance recently issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regarding harassment and misgendering in the workplace.Continue Reading Analyzing President Trump’s executive orders on harassment: Implications and reactions

Over the past several years, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has made several attempts to regulate the U.S. workplace. This includes, perhaps most notably, the FTC’s May 2024 rule attempting to ban virtually all existing and future non-compete agreements nationwide (though, at least for now, that rule has been sidelined by the courts). Against that backdrop, on January 16, 2025, the FTC and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) jointly issued Antitrust Guidelines for Business Activities Affecting Workers.

The guidelines, which replace the 2016 Antitrust Guidance for Human Resource Professionals, examine how the FTC and DOJ assess the legality, under federal antitrust laws, of certain business practices affecting U.S. workers. To that end, the guidelines highlight the following five examples of business practices that the FTC and DOJ consider “potential violations of the antitrust laws”:Continue Reading Labor mobility remains in the limelight – FTC and DOJ take another swing at regulating the U.S. workplace

On January 8, 2025, California received a Major Disaster Declaration for the ongoing Southern California wildfires. As the devastating wildfires continue to rage across the Los Angeles area, employers may be wondering how they can support their Southern California workforces while remaining compliant with employment laws. Employers must consider a host of factors, including compliance with tax regulations and wage and hour laws, worker safety, leaves of absence, and worksite closures.

Below are some key tips for businesses with a Southern California presence to consider as they navigate the challenging weeks and months ahead.Continue Reading How U.S. employers can support their workforces during the Southern California wildfires

While the end of a calendar quarter is a good time to review your business’s HR-related practices and procedures, the start of Q1 seems to be particularly popular. With that in mind, we have compiled the following checklist of potential action items for U.S. employers in Q1 2025:

Vet onboarding paperwork and procedures

Federal law, and in many areas state and local law as well, require that businesses provide new employees, including remote hires, with certain written notices and other materials upon hire. Many businesses also require new hires to sign additional documentation outlining the terms and conditions of employment. To that end, now is a good time to ensure that all new hires are:

  • Receiving any notices required by applicable law. This includes, for instance, any wage-related notices that identify whether the employee will be classified as exempt or non-exempt from overtime pay.
  • Signing any required offer letters, restrictive covenant/confidentiality/works for hire agreements, arbitration agreements, and/or other documents delineating the terms and conditions of employment.
  • Completing any required immigration and tax forms.

Employers should also confirm whether there have been changes to any applicable state and/or local laws relating to the hiring and onboarding process.Continue Reading HR checklist for U.S. employers to consider in 2025

Workers’ compensation claims are typically an issue about which employers think only in the context of physical workplace injuries. In New York State, however, that may soon be poised to change. On January 1, 2025, the states Workers’ Compensation Law will permit all workers to file claims for mental injury premised upon extraordinary work-related stress. Governor Hochul signed the amendment under A5745 (the Amendment) reiterating New York state’s ongoing effort to support mental health in the workplace.Continue Reading New York amends workers’ compensation law to include mental injury

On November 16, 2024, the New York Clean Slate Act went into effect. The Act provides for the automatic sealing of a broad swath of criminal convictions after a certain period of time and requires employers to comply with new disclosure obligations when obtaining criminal history information in connection with employment actions.

Sealed convictions

The Act requires the New York State Unified Court System to seal certain criminal convictions no later than November 16, 2027. These include misdemeanor and felony convictions under New York penal law (not federal law), which must be sealed three years and eight years, respectively, after a defendant’s release from incarceration or imposition of sentencing, whichever is later. 

Automatic sealing does not apply to any convictions for sex offenses or non-drug related Class A felony offenses. In addition, records cannot be sealed where a defendant has a subsequent criminal charge pending in New York or any other jurisdiction (with limited exceptions to out-of-state pending charges), or where the defendant is on parole or probation.Continue Reading New York Clean Slate Act and sealed convictions: what employers should know

As the use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems rapidly spreads throughout society, legislators across the U.S. are hustling to try and ensure that these systems are created and implemented in a safe and fair manner everywhere they are being used. The workplace is one such area that is starting to gain interest in this regard.

Legislators have begun considering, and in a few cases even passed, bills aimed at preventing so-called “algorithmic discrimination” in the workplace. This refers to biased outcomes that can happen when employers use AI systems, or “automated decision tools” (ADTs), as a substantial factor in making consequential decisions such as whether to hire, promote, or discipline. According to the White House, “Algorithmic discrimination occurs when automated systems contribute to unjustified different treatment or impacts disfavoring people based on their race, color, ethnicity, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions, gender identity, intersex status, and sexual orientation), religion, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other classification protected by law.”

We will summarize the status, applicability, and provisions of various U.S. state- and local-level bills proposing to regulate algorithmic discrimination that are actively pending or passed as of the date of this article’s publication below.Continue Reading Employers beware: AI-based workplace discrimination laws are coming to the U.S.