State Employment Law Articles

During the 2019 legislative session, Governor Larry Hogan vetoed the Criminal Records Screening (or “Ban-the-Box”) Act. On January 30, 2020, however, the Maryland General Assembly overrode the governor’s veto, making it unlawful for any employer in the State of Maryland with 15 or more employees to

Texas courts are increasingly encountering efforts to challenge restrictive covenant agreements on free speech grounds, where the restricted activity includes business-related communications. A recent Texas appellate court decision indicates that this strategy has its limits.

As California employers know, the California legislature passed a new law in 2019 barring employers from requiring employees to enter into arbitration agreements that cover wage and hour claims and FEHA claims (discrimination, harassment, retaliation). That law was supposed to take effect January 1,

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California has granted a request for a preliminary injunction to prohibit the State of California from enforcing Assembly Bill 51 (AB 51) as to arbitration agreements governed by the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). Chamber of Commerce of the United

A California federal court has granted a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of Assembly Bill 51, an expansive anti-arbitration law enacted in October and set to take effect on January 1, 2020. Under this law, employers in the Golden State would be unable to require applicants and employees

The D.C. Circuit recently rebuffed the National Labor Relations Board’s attempt to assert jurisdiction over adjunct faculty at Duquesne University, a religious college. Duquesne University v. NLRB, No. No. 18-1063 (D.C. Cir. Jan. 28, 2020). In the process, the court rejected the Board’s approach to

The Illinois Department of Human Rights (IHDR) has answered the call for clarity and provided guidance on the sexual harassment prevention measures necessitated by Public Act 101-0221 (commonly referred to as the Workplace Transparency Act), which amended the Illinois Human Rights Act (IHRA). As of

With the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) effective for nearly one month, businesses continue to grapple with the many components of this new privacy framework. A key component of the CCPA is granting consumers the right to request information about and to exercise some control over their pers

The California Court of Appeal, in its recent decision in Schmidt, et al. v. Superior Court, County of Ventura 2020 Cal. App. LEXIS 54 (January 22, 2020), affirmed the trial court’s ruling in favor of the employer, the Ventura County Superior Court.

The City of St. Louis, Missouri enacted a ban-the-box ordinance prohibiting employers within the city from basing promotions or hiring decisions on an individual’s criminal history or a related sentence.1 The ordinance will take effect January 1, 2021. In the meantime, the Office of the License Coll

As previously addressed by the OSHA Law Blog, California’s Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (“Standards Board”) considered a proposed standard that would allow employee access to their employer’s Injury and Illness Prevention Plan (“IIPP”). During its January 16th, 2020 meeting the Sta

As “Super Sick Monday” approaches, employers will review their sick leave policies and procedures to ensure that operations are not “sacked” by excessive absenteeism the day after the Super Bowl, and that an enforcement agency does not throw a flag on the play. Because sometimes the best offense is

New Jersey has enacted a series of laws designed to penalize companies that misclassify individuals as independent contractors.

Among the 153 bills Governor Phil Murphy signed into law on January 21, 2020 was Senate Bill 1791, which amends the New Jersey Wage Payment Law (WPL) to require employers to provide additional information on employees’ wage statements.

Suitable employment is an issue frequently litigated in workers’ compensation claims in North Carolina. Typically, a job is offered and the claimant refuses the job on the basis that it is allegedly unsuitable. For decades, this issue has troubled employers because claimants could, with seeming impu

On January 16, 2020, the New Mexico Supreme Court issued its decision in Mendoza v. Isleta Resort and Casino, holding that a tribe does not waive its sovereign immunity to workers’ compensation claims merely by committing in a tribal gaming compact1 to establish a workers’ compensation program. Trib

Seeking to tighten worker misclassification enforcement in New Jersey, on January 20, 2020, Governor Phil Murphy signed into law a package of legislation to add misclassification penalties, allow stop-work orders against employers for legal violations, promote agency information sharing, hold contra

Changes to New York state law that prohibit employer inquiries into the salary history of applicants and employees took effect on January 6, 2020. Recently, the New York Department of Labor released a series of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to further clarify this law. The FAQs provide insight o

The Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals reversed enforcement of an employment arbitration agreement on January 23, 2020, holding that the agreement was both substantively and procedurally unconscionable because it required the parties to submit to arbitration all claims arising among them, even th

Over the past few years, legislators and government agencies at both the state and federal levels have pushed reforms limiting the use of non-competes and other restrictive covenants by U.S. businesses. Some of those efforts have extended to covenants that restrict a party’s ability to solicit and/o