A new legislation (the Retail Worker Safety Act) aimed at improving workplace safety for retail workers in New York was recently signed by Governor Hochul. Interactive training, workplace violence prevention policies, and panic button implementation will soon become mandatory for retail employers in an effort to address rising concerns over workplace violence in retail settings. … Read more

Beginning January 1, 2025, all New York employers must provide up to 20 hours of “paid prenatal personal leave” in any 52-week period to pregnant employees.  The leave may be used for any health care services received by an employee during their pregnancy or related to such pregnancy, such as physical examinations, medical procedures, monitoring … Read more

In March 2024, the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (NYCDCWP) published a new Workers’ Bill of Rights. The Workers’ Bill of Rights is a webpage, which contains a comprehensive summary of NYC employment laws enforced by NYCDCWP, such as paid sick and safe leave, temporary schedule changes, freelance workers’ rights, commuter benefits, and … Read more

Update: On August 20, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Ryan, LLC v. Federal Trade Commission blocked enforcement of the FTC’s rule on a national basis and for all employers. *** On April 23, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) finalized a rule prohibiting non-compete agreements and policies that … Read more

Last year, Governor Kathy Hochul signed the “Freelance Isn’t Free” Act (the “Act”) into law.  Originally, the Act was to take effect on May 20, 2024, but will now take effect on August 28, 2024. In 2016, NYC passed a similar law of the same name.  The New York State version of the law extends … Read more

With Valentine’s Day approaching, what better topic than workplace romance. When a workplace romance ends, it can have all kinds of repercussions.   For example, the dumped co-worker might attempt to woo back their former lover, and those attempts could be viewed as contributing to a hostile work environment if the attention is no longer welcome. … Read more

Late last year, I testified as an expert witness before the New York Department of Labor (NY DOL) in a misclassification hearing.  The hearing was the result of a NY DOL audit in which the auditors determined that certain workers were inappropriately classified as independent contractors and, instead, should have been classified as employees. The … Read more

If you have ever spoken to your employment lawyer about a poor-performing employee, they have surely asked you about the kind of feedback that has been given to the employee.  Performance management matters, and it’s not just to support a termination of employment or performance improvement plan. When discussing performance management, I am not referring … Read more

Late last month (June 2023), the New York State Department of Labor’s amendments New York’s WARN Act regulations went into effect. This post highlights five of the most important amendments to those regulations. 1 – Employer Coverage The New York WARN Act applies to private sector employers if they employ at least 50 full-time employees … Read more

This post is part of a new series that specifically discusses employment law issues for startups and small businesses operating in New York State and New York City. I have seen a lot of posts in recent months warning employers that prosecutors are getting tougher on wage theft.  From a preventative counseling perspective, I find … Read more