State Employment Law Articles

Welcome and thank you for your interest in the 2020: The Year Ahead for Employers and the California Year-End Summary.

New York’s Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act went into effect on January 1, 2020. Two days earlier, two agricultural business associations filed a challenge to the law in federal court requesting a temporary restraining order (TRO).

Concluding that it too broadly defined “employer” and raised a myriad of due process concerns that subjected it to risks of unconstitutionality, on December 31, 2019, Governor Andrew Cuomo Governor Cuomo vetoed a bill that would have allowed a current or former employee (or the New York State Depart

In New York, 2020 will be the last year employers who employ tipped employees in car washes, nail salons, and parking garages, among other establishments, will be permitted to pay such employees a rate below the minimum wage and take a “credit” for tips received by such employees to satisfy the stat

Addressing a matter of first impression, the Iowa Supreme Court determined that “when a civil cause of action is provided by the legislature in the same statute that creates the public policy to be enforced, the civil cause of action is the exclusive remedy for violation of that statute.” Ferguson v

Some business leaders and HR professionals may be waking up this morning not realizing they must provide a “Notice at Collection” to some or all of their employees and applicants under the new California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

For over a year, New York State employers harbored concerns that New York State would enact rules that would eliminate their ability to apply a tip credit towards the wages of employees who earn tips. The reason for this concern was that Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, as part of his 2018 State of the Sta

The State of California has been temporarily enjoined from enforcing its prohibition on mandatory employment arbitration agreements under Assembly Bill 51. Chamber of Commerce of the United States, et al. v. Becerra, et al., No. 2:19-cv-2456 (E.D. Cal. Dec. 30, 2019). The motion for a preliminary in

A federal court in California has prevented, at least for now, an expansive anti-arbitration law from taking effect on January 1, 2020. Under Assembly Bill (AB) 51, enacted on October 10, 2019, employers cannot require applicants, employees, and potentially independent contractors in the Golden Stat

A new Virginia statute limits employers’ use of nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements with respect to “sexual assault” as a condition of employment.

As 2019 comes to a close, here is a look ahead to some of the legislation going into effect on January 1, 2020, that affects employers in California.

Following a local television station’s report of labor brokers paying cash to construction laborers to avoid paying taxes for these workers, a Utah state legislator said she plans to introduce legislation in 2020 to increase fines and make subcontractors liable for the acts of these labor brokers.

Businesses subject to the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”) are working diligently to comply with the law’s numerous mandates, although final regulatory guidance has yet to be issued. Many of these businesses are learning that AB25, passed in October, requires employees, applicants, and certa

One year after news broke nationwide of south New Jersey high school wrestler Andrew Johnson forced to choose between forfeiting a wrestling match or having his dreadlocks cut off, New Jersey has joined California and New York in banning discrimination on the basis of hair type and style.

With its “Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair Act” (CROWN Act), New Jersey just became the third state to enact legislation specifically prohibiting discrimination based on hair texture or hairstyles associated with race. On December 19, 2019, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy sign

Executive Summary. On December 18, 2019 New York State’s Department of Health (DOH) issued a Request for Offers (RFO) from those who wish to continue or first become Fiscal Intermediaries (FIs) under the State’s Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP). Every offer responding to this RF

As we’ve previously reported, the New York Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security Act (the “SHIELD Act”) goes into effect on March 21, 2020. The SHIELD Act, which amends the State’s current data breach notification law, imposes more expansive data security and data breach notification requi

On December 18, 2019, the Michigan Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision on whether the Michigan legislature’s strategy to enact two ballot proposals (one concerning paid sick leave and the other minimum wage) and then amend those proposals before their effective dates was consistent with t

The Connecticut Legislature has passed legislation mandating that the state’s minimum wage regulations incorporate the “80/20” or “20%” tip credit rule. Governor Ned Lamont is expected to sign House Bill No. 7501, “An Act Concerning the Workforce Training Needs in the State and Revisions to and Regu

After more than a four-year delay, the City of Pittsburgh’s Paid Sick Days Act (“the Ordinance”) will go into effect on March 15, 2020. The city passed the Ordinance in August 2015,1 but its authority to pass such a law was challenged in court. In July 2019, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the