State Employment Law Articles

Under the Puerto Rico Working Women’s Bill of Rights Act, Law No. 9-2020 (Act 9), employers with at least two employees must post the Bill of Rights in a place accessible to all employees and visitors. The Puerto Rico Department of Labor has published a poster that satisfies the Act 9’s requirements

Following the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the World Health Organization’s declaration of a pandemic, on March 12, 2020, the Puerto Rico House of Representatives approved House Bill 2428 to establish a new unpaid emergency leave of 20 days for employees with a suspected or actual diagn

The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment released new FAQs to clarify requirements under the Colorado Health Emergency Leave with Pay (“Colorado HELP”) Rules, issued on March 11, 2020, that require certain employers to provide paid sick leave for employees with flu-like symptoms who are being

All governmental agencies, public corporations, municipalities and private employers in Puerto Rico with two or more employees are required to publish a poster in compliance with Law No. 9-2020, known as the Working Women’s Bill of Rights. The poster must be published in a place accessible to all em

On March 11, 2020, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment issued Colorado Health Emergency Leave with Pay (“Colorado HELP”) Rules that require certain employers to provide paid sick leave for employees with flu-like symptoms who are being tested for COVID-19. The rules take effect immediate

On March 11, 2020, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE) adopted the Colorado HELP Rules to require up to four days of paid sick leave for employees in select industries to attend to flu-related symptoms and treatment.

The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act (CUMMA) requires employers to accommodate an employee’s lawful use of medical marijuana outside of the workplace, the New Jersey Supreme Court has held. Wild v. Carriage Funeral Holdings, Inc., No. 082836 (Mar. 10, 2020).

The New Jersey Department of Labor (DOL) released information about state benefits and protections afforded to New Jersey employees amid the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. The DOL guidance provides clarity to New Jersey employers as they work to address the rapidly evolving challenges posed by COV

Utah’s medical cannabis program officially launched this month, and the Utah State Legislature timely enacted Senate Bill 121, which amends and clarifies various provisions of Utah’s medical cannabis laws, including a pronouncement that private employers are not required to accommodate the use of me

Effective March 16, 2020, virtually all private employers in Colorado will be subject to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Division of Labor Standards and Statistics’ new Colorado Overtime and Minimum Pay Standards Order Number 36 (“COMPS Order 36”). COMPS Order 36 replaces prior Mini

Executive Summary: On March 10, 2020, the New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed the reinstatement of a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by a medical cannabis cardholder against his former employer, after he was fired for failing a post-accident drug test. The holding confirms medical cannabis use

Bruce Sarchet and Emily Patajo with Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute discuss proposed laws and regulations under consideration in California. The 2020 class of bills covers a lot of ground, from potential changes to the much-discussed worker classification test under AB 5, to antidiscrimination

The Connecticut workers’ compensation system is designed to assist the injured worker when claiming a valid and compensable injury. Over the years, the rights of the injured worker have been expanded, amended, and challenged. Recently, two Connecticut Review Board (CRB) decisions increased those rig

Since its enactment last fall, California’s AB 5—legislation adopting the so-called “ABC test” for purposes of determining whether a worker is an independent contractor or statutory employee—has dominated not only the legal landscape in California, but also the broader discussion of what the shape o

Effective February 6, 2020, New York employees who are out of work due to a labor dispute, such as a strike, are eligible to collect unemployment benefits after a waiting period of only 14 days. Under existing law, which will not change, employees who are out of work as a result of a lockout or who

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Paid Sick Days Act will (finally) take effect on March 15, 2020, the effective date triggered when the Mayor's Office of Equity (“MOE”) released guidelines on December 16, 2019. On February 15, 2020, one month before the ordinance's effective date, MOE revised some of its

On March 14, 2020, new Puerto Rico Department of Labor and Human Resources Regulations to administer the Equal Pay Program will come into effect. The Regulations were enacted pursuant to Act. No. 16 of March 8, 2017, as amended, known as Puerto Rico’s Equal Pay Act, and encourage equal pay in accord

On March 4, 2020, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed HB 1514/SB 50 into law, which expands the Virginia Human Rights Act’s definition of racial discrimination to include traits historically associated with race, including hair texture, hair type, and protective hairstyles. Virginia’s law will be

Virginia has become the fourth state (joining California, New Jersey, and New York) to define racial discrimination to include traits historically associated with race, such as hairstyles. The new Virginia law will go into effect on July 1, 2020.

In late 2019, the Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta federal court) addressed the duties owed when an independent contractor leaves one trucking company to work for another. In Wind Logistics Prof’l v. Universal Truckload, Inc., Universal Truckload (“Universal”) was in the business of transportin