On September 26, 2024, the New Jersey Legislature passed Senate Bill 2310. This new law requires New Jersey employers to include certain information about compensation and benefits in both internal and external job postings. Governor Murphy has 45 days (i.e., until November 10, 2024) to sign the bill into law, and, once signed, it will go into effect seven months later.Continue Reading New Jersey Passes Wage Transparency Law
On September 4, 2024, Governor Kathy Hochul signed S8358C, the New York Retail Worker Safety Act (RWSA), into law. Through the RWSA, New York state seeks to address growing threats of workplace violence and fears among retail workers regarding their safety in the workplace. New York joins a handful of other states, including California, which have passed similar legislation.Continue Reading New York Governor Signs Legislation to Protect Retail Workers from Workplace Violence
In the California case of Okonowsky v. Garland, a male supervisor in a federal prison (a lieutenant) used his private Instagram account to post sexually offensive content about a female prison psychologist. The District Court dismissed the psychologist’s hostile work environment claim, holding that the posts occurred entirely outside the workplace, were made on the lieutenant’s personal Instagram account, and were not sent or otherwise displayed to the psychologist. The Ninth Circuit reversed the dismissal of the Title VII claim and found that, in view of the generally permanent nature of the sexual posts and the references to the workplace on the Instagram account, the psychologist’s work environment could have been made hostile, especially since she had to interact with the lieutenant on a regular basis, and despite the fact that the lieutenant’s conduct occurred “off-site.”Continue Reading Recent Judicial Decisions Highlight the Importance of Anti-Harassment Training
Although non-competition agreements are under ongoing attack at the federal and state levels (including being banned in California, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Oklahoma, among others), New York State is not yet ready to join that movement. Late last month, New York Governor Kathy Hochul vetoed Senate Bill S3100A, which was passed in June 2023 by the NYS Assembly and the Senate and would have prohibited all non-compete agreements. In vetoing the bill, Governor Hochul expressed concern about the impact that the legislation would have on the interest of the many businesses operating in the state to protect the competitive advantage that key employees bring.Continue Reading New York Governor Vetoes Bill Banning Non-Compete Agreements
As of November 26, 2023, the New York City Human Rights Law makes discrimination on the basis of an individual’s height or weight unlawful. Accordingly, an employer may not discharge or refuse to hire an individual, or provide an individual with less advantageous terms, conditions, or benefits of employment on the basis of actual or perceived height or weight. Continue Reading New York City Bans Employers from Creating Height and Weight Requirements
On November 17, 2023, Governor Kathy Hochul signed SB 4516, an amendment to N.Y. General Obligations Law §5-336 that prohibits liquidated damages clauses in nondisclosure provisions of settlement agreements involving discrimination, harassment or retaliation claims, and adds additional protections for individuals alleging such claims. The amendment applies to agreements signed on or after November 17, 2023.Continue Reading New Law in New York State Impacts Settlement Agreements
In 2023, New York State and New York City amended several labor and employment laws about which employers should be aware to ensure that their policies and procedures remain compliant. For more detailed information, check out the article here.Continue Reading New York State and City Labor and Employment Updates
New York City has implemented regulations governing the use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) and automated decision-making tools in the employment space.Continue Reading New York City Law Tackles AI Bias in Employment
In January 2020, New Jersey passed significant amendments to the state’s Millville Dallas Airmotive Plant Job Loss Notification Act (the “NJ WARN Act”) that were to go into effect in July 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the effective date was delayed, but on December 19, 2022, the New Jersey legislature passed A-4768, which, when it becomes effective on April 10, 2023, will result in a significant expansion of the NJ WARN Act.Continue Reading WARNing: Updates to the New Jersey Plant Closing Law Coming Soon
Effective September 18, 2023, employers will be required to comply with a new pay transparency law for jobs that can be performed, at least in part, in the state of New York.
The law is similar to the pay transparency statutes of New York City (see link), Westchester County and Ithaca in that the New York State law requires employers (and any agent thereof, such as an employment agency) to include a good-faith minimum and maximum pay range with any external job advertisements or internal postings for transfers and promotions, that can or will be performed, at least in part, in New York State. Unlike the local laws, the state law expressly allows the inclusion of a fixed pay rate or salary, as opposed to a range (although the laws that require a range allow for the minimum and maximum to be the same number). For a commission-based job, the ad or posting may simply state compensation is by commission. Continue Reading New York State Enacts a Pay Transparency Law