State Employment Law Articles

On June 27, 2019, Maine Governor Janet Mills signed into law L.D. 666, which extends existing protections for pregnant and nursing employees in Maine. The act, entitled “An Act to Protect Pregnant Workers,” creates broad protections for workers, covering any limitation of an employee’s ability to pe

New York’s equal pay law prohibiting wage differentials based on protected class status was signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo on July 10, 2019. The new equal pay law will be effective on October 8, 2019.

A new Oregon law limits employers’ use of nondisclosure or nondisparagement agreements with their employees with respect to employment discrimination or sexual assault.

Executive Summary: On July 2, 2019, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed a much-anticipated bill into effect that expands and revises the state’s existing medical cannabis program, the Compassionate Use of Medical Marijuana Act (CUMMA). For employers faced with employees and job applicants who use

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which goes into effect January 1, 2020, is considered the most robust state privacy law in the United States. The CCPA seems to have spurred a flood of similar legislative proposals on the state level, and started a shift in the consumer privacy law landsc

On June 14, 2019, a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral argument in consolidated appeals involving the compensability of pre-exit inspections of employee bags at two retail clothing store chains. While the district courts had granted summary judgment to the employers in both cases

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which goes into effect January 1, 2020, is considered the most robust state privacy law in the United States. The CCPA seems to have spurred a flood of similar legislative proposals on the state level, and started a shift in the consumer privacy law landsc

The recent focus on the EEOC’s new Component 2 to its EEO-1 Report has been undeniable. It requires employers report on the race, ethnicity, sex, job type, pay, and hours worked data of its employees.

Municipal ordinances mandating that employers provide paid sick leave to employees in Dallas and San Antonio will take effect as scheduled on August 1, 2019.

As discussed in our June 20, 2019 Alert, although the state of Texas does not require employers to provide employees with paid sick leave, the cities of Dallas, San Antonio and Austin have all recently passed ordinances which would require almost all employers with employees who work in those cities

The New York State Legislature has passed two bills in the waning days of the 2019 Legislative Session that will affect the liquor licensing process statewide. One bill would impose a posting requirement on applications for renewal. The other bill would require applicants to provide notice to certai

Beginning January 1, 2020, new legislation in Nevada will require employers to think carefully about whether and which applicants should be tested for marijuana. Under A.B. 132, employers are generally prohibited from withholding a job offer because a candidate tests positive for marijuana use. Mari

State and local leave laws are changing weekly and sometimes even daily! For the second time this month, Maine is adjusting its leave laws. Employers in Maine will soon be required to provide veterans with time away from work to attend scheduled appointments at Department of Veterans Affairs medical

Thereafter, on January 1 of each year, the minimum wage will increase by another $1.00 per hour, until it ultimately reaches $15.00 per hour in 2024. After 2024, the rate will continue to increase based on the federal consumer price index for all urban wage earners and clerical workers.

On June 13, 2019, the New York City Council passed Intro 799 to prohibit retaliation against individuals who make a request for a reasonable accommodation under any applicable provision of chapter 1 of the New York City Human Rights Law.

In a recent decision, the Pennsylvania Superior Court clarified the application of the attorney work-product doctrine in the context of an e-mail exchange to a third-party consultant. The decision addresses the question of whether the work-product doctrine in Pennsylvania applies to otherwise confid

In the final days of its 2019 Session, the New York State Legislature passed three bills that, respectively, will bar employers from inquiring about applicants’ past salary history, prohibit wage differentials based on protected class status, and ban race discrimination based on an employee’s hair o

Oregon just enacted comprehensive legislation that will have a potentially surprising impact on most Oregon workplaces. On June 11, 2019, Governor Kate Brown signed into law Senate Bill 726, also known as the Workplace Fairness Act. The law creates a new unlawful employment practice that prohibits e

As we have previously discussed, the Puerto Rico Department of Labor (PR DOL) recently published the first edition of its Guidelines on the Interpretation of Puerto Rico’s Employment Legislation (Guidelines), which includes the PR DOL’s official statutory interpretation of nearly all of Puerto Rico’

In an effort to prevent persons with criminal records from being automatically ruled out for job vacancies, Colorado Governor Jared Polis has signed “ban the box” legislation. The new law will go into effect in September 2019 for employers with at least 11 employees, and employers with fewer than 11