Workplace Legal Alert
Employer Access to Social Media Accounts Restricted
A new law recently went into effect in New York restricting employers from requesting or accessing employees’ and applicants’ personal social media accounts.
Notice of Unemployment Insurance Benefits Required
New York State Labor regulations have long required employers to provide workers with notice of their right to file for Unemployment Insurance when separated from employment. The law was recently expanded to require notice when there is “an interruption of continued employment resulting in total or partial unemployment”.
Minimum Wage and Exempt Salary Thresholds Increase
On January 1, 2024, New York’s minimum wage will increase to $16/hour in New York City, Westchester, and Long Island, and $15/hour for the rest of the state. Looking ahead, the minimum wage will increase by $0.50 in 2025 and 2026. In 2027, it will increase annually at a rate determined by the Consumer Price Index.
Recreational Cannabis is Now Legal in New York
On March 31, 2021, the Marijuana Regulation & Taxation Act (MRTA) legalized the recreational use of cannabis by adults in New York. The first legal sale of recreational cannabis took place at an dispensary in Manhattan on December 29, 2022.
How does legal cannabis effect the workplace?
Accommodating Pregnancy and Nursing Mothers in the Workplace
Long before the enactment of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, New York law prohibited discrimination against disabled employees and required employers to provide a reasonable accommodation to allow them to perform the essential job functions. However, many courts had determined that pregnancy alone was not a disability entitled to an accommodation.
EEOC Releases Updated “Know Your Rights” Required Poster
The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has released an updated poster that employers are required to prominently display in the workplace.
New York Paid Family Leave
Starting January 1, 2018, New York state joined California, New Jersey and Rhode Island in requiring employers to give employees paid time off for family medical leave.
Proving Hours Worked In Overtime Lawsuits
An employee suing for unpaid wages or overtime has the burden to prove his case. For instance, an employee claiming he was not paid overtime wages must produce evidence showing he worked more than 40 hours a week and was not paid for all the overtime hours worked (at one and one-half times his regular hourly rate).
Supreme Court: Religious Discrimination Motivated By Ignorance Still Unlawful
In the March 12, 2015 edition of The Legal Workplace Grind, we discussed oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission vs. Abercrombie & Fitch. While we correctly predicted the High Court would rule in favor of the employee on whose behalf the EEOC sued the clothing retailer, my characterization of that case as one presenting tough legal questions was apparently misguided.
New York Will Accommodate Pregnant Workers
It’s been a long day and your feet are killing you. You make your way down the steamy subway platform and are fortunate to score a seat on the southbound A train out of Penn Station. Next stop – 14th Street where you see a very pregnant strap-hanger swept on board among the jostling rush-hour throng. You immediately offer her your seat because it’s the right thing to do and one of the unwritten rules of Gotham – we accommodate the elderly, disabled and pregnant.
Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Cold: Retaliation Under the FLSA
In the American workplace, for example, there are a number of federal laws that specifically prohibit retaliation against employees who engage in “protected activity”. The general purpose of these anti-retaliation provisions are to ensure that employees who exercise rights guaranteed by law are not punished for that activity. Without those protections, the law would lose its teeth and be rendered a mere paper tiger (a phrase coined by another notorious dictator – the Chinese Communist Chairman Mao Zedong).
Pregnancy Discrimination Act Doesn’t Require Accommodation
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA), enacted in 1978, made it clear that discrimination in employment based on pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions violates the prohibition on sex discrimination found in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
A Sikh, a Hasid, a Muslim and a Nun Walk Into Abercrombie & Fitch
The problem that paved the way to the Supreme Court, was that Abercrombie refused to hire Ms. Elauf because it assumed she wore the scarf for religious reasons and that her religious practice would not allow her to comply with its “Look Policy”.
Equal Employment Opportunity Has A Long Way To Go
As Black History Month 2015 comes to an end and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 approaches its 51st anniversary, the realization that the American workplace has yet to grasp the golden ring of equal employment opportunity can be discouraging.
I would venture to say that the activists responsible for the enactment of our civil rights statutes would find it unfathomable that in the 21st century
Can Donuts Create a Sexually Hostile Work Environment?
With Valentine’s Day comes the enumerable exchange of e-mails, cards, candies, flowers – and yes, donuts and lattes – in workplaces across America. While love may bloom from these seemingly harmless gestures, what if your company prohibits workplace relationships; or you prefer your latte sprinkle-free; or worse, your acceptance of that donut is misinterpreted and results in a hostile work environment.
US Workers Deserve Paid Leave
Who doesn’t know a working mom who’s sent a sick child to school because she couldn’t afford to miss a day of work?
Who hasn’t dragged their own sickly butt to the office for the same reason?
And what family needs to add to the concerns that accompany pregnancy, the worry that time off for the birth of a newborn will be without a paycheck?
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Workplace Legal Alerts
Employer Access to Social Media Accounts Restricted
A new law recently went into effect in New York...
Notice of Unemployment Insurance Benefits Required
New York State Labor regulations have long...
Minimum Wage and Exempt Salary Thresholds Increase
On January 1, 2024, New York’s minimum wage will...
Recreational Cannabis is Now Legal in New York
On March 31, 2021, the Marijuana Regulation...
Accommodating Pregnancy and Nursing Mothers in the Workplace
Long before the enactment of the federal...
EEOC Releases Updated “Know Your Rights” Required Poster
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission...
New York Paid Family Leave
As previously discussed here an amendment to the...
Proving Hours Worked In Overtime Lawsuits
An employee suing for unpaid wages or...
Supreme Court: Religious Discrimination Motivated By Ignorance Still Unlawful
In the March 12, 2015 edition of The Legal...
New York Will Accommodate Pregnant Workers
It’s been a long day and your feet are killing...