State Employment Law Articles

On April 14, 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled that when an employee pursues and succeeds on a claim for the failure to pay overtime wages under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the employee may not recover treble damages and other remedies under the Massachusetts Wage A

With the groundbreaking enactment of a new law relating to certain transportation network companies, rideshare drivers in Washington State will soon enjoy various benefits typically associated with employee status while retaining the independence and flexibility of their independent contractor statu

This is the fourth in a series of articles about the implications of the California Privacy Rights Act for employers.

On April 14, 2022, New York City Council Member Christopher Marte, along with Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, introduced legislation that would amend the New York City Fair Workweek law (“FWWL”), which currently applies only to fast food and retail employers. The new amendment, if enacted, would e

Overtime standards in Virginia will return to federal standards beginning July 1, 2022.

The New York City Commission on Human Rights recently issued its first round of guidance regarding the new salary transparency law scheduled to take effect on May 15, 2022. As we previously reported , the law will require New York City employers to include the minimum and maximum salary for both int

This month, the DFEH is booked. So, we are turning this session into Q and A. Jen will answer your questions for an hour. Yes. 60 minutes. We know. It’s pretty cool. Grab your coffee, and join her!

The Minnesota Supreme Court recently reaffirmed the use of the familiar McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting framework to analyze claims of retaliation under Minnesota law, despite the ask by the plaintiff-appellant and amici to abolish using that framework. The court also affirmed the requirement that

Virginia, historically reliant on the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to govern overtime obligations, passed its first stand-alone overtime law in March 2021. The Virginia Overtime Wage Act (VOWA),1 went into effect on July 1, 2021, amidst wide-spread confusion among Commonwealth employers o

After becoming the first state to ban real estate “love letters,” Oregon’s novel law has been found to violate the First Amendment and enjoined from enforcement by a federal Court in Oregon.

When an employer does not pay an employee earned wages within the time frames set forth in the Massachusetts Wage Act (MWA), the employee is entitled to three times the wages owed, regardless of the length of the delay or whether the wages are paid prior to a civil suit being filed, the Massachusett

On April 9, 2022, the Illinois Senate passed House Amendment 1 to SB 3616, joining the Illinois House, in unanimously passing legislation referred to as the CROWN (Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair) Act. It is expected that Governor J.B. Pritzker will sign the bill into law. As

Recognizing that workers are increasingly working from home or in places other than an employer’s worksite, the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights (DCR) issued proposed regulations on March 21, 2022, that would allow employers to satisfy the state’s Law Against Discrimination (LAD) and Family Leave

On November 30, 2020, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) adopted the first COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standards for California. As of April 6, 2022, Cal/OSHA has proposed a third readoption with additional changes and adjustments based on the development of its un

On April 1, 2022, a Los Angeles County judge ruled that AB 979, which requires publicly held corporations with a principal executive office in California to have at least one member of the Board of Directors from an “underrepresented community,” violated the Equal Protection Clause of the California

Clouds lurk over the once-golden state of PAGA. California courts have finally started to take aim at unwieldy representative claims alleging numerous violations against all non-exempt employees across the state. The United States Supreme Court will soon determine whether federal arbitration laws ca

The Minnesota Legislature, currently in regular session until mid- to late May 2022, has drafted various bills that may impact Minnesota employers and employees. Notably, some of the major bills under consideration (or already enacted) include a hair antidiscrimination bill, a measure extending the

On April 6, 2022, Cal/OSHA issued a draft COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) for readoption to replace the current version, which expires on May 5, 2022. The readopted ETS would be the fourth version of the ETS, which first went into effect on November 30, 2021.1 The California Occupational

On March 23, 2022, the Court of Appeal of the State of California, Fourth Appellate District, issued the latest ruling on the hotly contested issue of whether a trial court is empowered to dismiss or limit representative claims for alleged violations of the California Labor Code under the Private At

In Reuter v.