New York Employment Beat

Employment legislation and litigation are often about trends. In the mid-to-late 2010’s, for instance, 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 attempts to limit or even outright ban non-compete agreements.

In New York State, the unquestionable 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 was born out of a radical 2019 appellate court decision that broke from more than a century of judicial precedent.

As more fully discussed below, however, two recent developments – one legislative and one judicial – suggest that the flood of frequency of pay lawsuits may soon be a thing of the past.Continue Reading Are frequency of pay lawsuits in New York soon to be a thing of the past?

Last week, Governor Hochul announced a suite of proposed measures aimed at addressing rising maternal and infant mortality rates. As is relevant to New York employers, this includes a proposed expansion of New York State Paid Family Leave to include 40 hours of paid leave to attend prenatal medical appointments. If signed into law, this would make

New York State lawmakers had a busy 2023 and have ushered in many new measures that will take effect throughout 2024. As New York employers look toward the new year, they should keep the following key dates in mind:

  • January 1, 2024 – The minimum wage rate in New York will increase to $16/hour in New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester Counties and $15/hour in the rest of the state. Additionally, this will cause an increase to the exempt salary threshold for administrative and executive employees — to $1,200/week or $62,400/year in New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester Counties and $1,124.20/week or $58,458.40/year in the rest of the state.
  • February 15, 2024 – The statute of limitations for filing administrative claims of unlawful discrimination under the New York State Human Rights Law extends from one year to three years (running from the date of the alleged unlawful discriminatory practice). Claims of sexual harassment are already subject to this three-year limitations period.

Continue Reading New year, new laws: Key compliance dates for New York employers

During the height of the #MeToo movement, New York lawmakers passed a host of workplace-related legislation. This included adoption of Section 5-336 of the New York General Obligations Law, which governs the use of nondisclosure provisions in agreements resolving claims of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation. On November 17, 2023, Empire State legislators passed several key amendments (the “Amendment”) to the existing law, which took effect immediately.

By way of background, Section 5-336 was originally passed to protect nondisclosure provisions in agreements resolving claims of sexual harassment. Under Section 5-336 and prior to the Amendment, the law prohibited employers from including nondisclosure provisions in such agreements unless it was the employee’s preference and the employer complied with certain procedural requirements, including: (i) the inclusion of the provision is the employee-complainant’s preference; (ii) employee’s receipt of 21 days to consider the nondisclosure provision, a period that could not be shortened or waived (even if the employee wanted to); (iii) a 7-day revocation period; and (iv) employee’s preference for confidentiality memorialized in a separate written agreement.Continue Reading Reminder to New York employers: Amendments to nondisclosure rules will require updates to separation and settlement agreements

As we previously reported here and here, effective September 17, 2023, New York State employers with four or more employees will be required to include the minimum and maximum pay range that they reasonably or in “good faith” expect to pay in any advertisement for a job, promotion, or transfer opportunity.

This disclosure

Over the past decade-plus, New York lawmakers have passed several laws intended to combat perceived wage theft across the Empire State. On September 6, 2023, lawmakers in Albany continued this trend by passing a bill that codifies wage theft as criminal larceny.

Specifically, the bill adds a new subsection to the New York Penal Law’s

As we previously reported, New York State recently adopted a salary transparency law that, effective September 17, 2023, will require employers to disclose the pay range for any job that is advertised, including those for internal promotion or transfer opportunities. Last month, however, Governor Kathy Hochul signed A999/S1326 into law, amending the impending salary

For decades, businesses within New York State have been required by federal, state and, in certain cases, local law to physically post various notices and posters in the workplace. However, last month Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law Senate Bill S6805, which mandates that Empire State employers now also make any legally-required notices and

On December 21, 2022, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Warehouse Worker Protection Act (WWPA) into law. The WWPA is intended to protect warehouse workers from unreasonably demanding work quotas and goes into effect on February 19, 2023.

As detailed in this post, the WWPA establishes new requirements for distribution centers to disclose work

As we detailed in a recent Thomson Reuters article, wage transparency laws have become the latest trend in US workplace-related legislation. Such laws have, to date, been enacted in noteworthy locales such as California, Colorado and New York City. On December 21, 2022, New York State became the latest jurisdiction to adopt a wage transparency