State Employment Law Articles

The Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act (Non-Compete Act) has yet to be tested, but its venue provision likely will come under special scrutiny. The venue provision governs the geographical location and forum in which a non-compete lawsuit may be maintained. Due to its apparent conflicts with

On May 10, Governor Phil Murphy signed into law P.L.2019, c.95. an amendment enhancing New Jersey’s data breach notification law by expanding the definition of personal information, and updating notification requirements. As we previously reported, the amendment was unanimously approved by the New J

On May 9, 2019, Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed House Bill 1696, the state’s most recent pay equity legislation, which the bill claims is an “additional step towards gender equality.”1

In an effort to combat the ongoing opioid crisis and substance abuse, New York State’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2020 includes the nation’s first tax incentive program for certified employers who hire people recovering from substance use disorders in full-time or part-time positions. The purpose of the

After a one-day bench trial, a sales representative for a security company successfully established that his employer had failed to reimburse him for mileage expenses, using only his odometer reading as the basis to calculate the owed mileage. Plaintiff was a “High Volume Sales Representative,” mean

California keeps making privacy headlines for its trailblazing California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), set to take effect January 1, 2020, but there is another set of privacy bills making its way through the California state legislature, that, if passed, will provide consumers with further privacy

We previously blogged about the law passed by the New York City Council on April 9, 2019 that will prohibit employers from conducting pre-employment drug testing for marijuana.

Intro 1445-A became effective on May 10, 2019. It is the first of its kind law in the United States, prohibiting New York City employers from requiring prospective employees to submit to testing for the presence of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana. The obligations under

On May 8, 2019, the Secretary of the Puerto Rico Department of Labor (hereinafter, “PR-DOL”) issued the first edition of the “Guidelines for the Interpretation of Puerto Rico’s Employment Legislation” (hereinafter, the “Guidelines”) in an effort to provide guidance and a general overview of its posi

Act 257 of December 10, 2018 (Act 257) amended the Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code to require any person or entity required to withhold income tax on payments for services rendered to submit a reconciliation quarterly tax return. Accordingly, the Puerto Rico Department of the Treasury (the “PR Tre

Adhering to the “plain and ordinary” language of the state’s overtime statute and related regulations, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has held that inside sales employees paid on a 100% commission basis are additionally entitled to pay for overtime hours worked and premium pay for work on

Westchester County, New York has enacted a new ordinance, the “Safe Time Leave Law,” that, beginning October 30, 2019, will require all private employers to provide up to 40 hours of paid leave for victims of domestic violence and human trafficking. This ordinance will apply to employees1 who are em

On May 8, 2019, Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1450 (HB 1450), radically altering the law governing noncompetition agreements and moonlighting prohibitions in Washington State. The bill will become effective on January 1, 2020, but includes provisions for retro

Executive Summary: In 2018, the California Supreme Court adopted the “ABC test” for determining whether workers are independent contractors under California wage orders (the Dynamex decision). For a discussion of that decision, please see our May 3, 2018 Alert. The ABC test makes it more difficult i

California employers were dealt another setback in the responding to claims of misclassification of independent contractor status for violations of the Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Order (“IWC Wage Orders”). Noting California’s “basic legal tradition” that “judicial decisions are given retroac

On May 8, 2019, Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed into law HB 1450, described as “AN ACT Relating to restraints, including noncompetition covenants, on persons engaging in lawful professions, trades, or businesses[.]” While the Act does not take effect until January 1, 2020, its restrictions app

For 20 years, public agencies in Washington State have been barred from favoring or discriminating against applicants, employees, or contractors based on sex, ethnicity, color, race, or national origin. On the last day of its regular 2019 session, April 28, 2019, the Washington State legislature eas

Non-lawyers may no longer represent employers in unemployment compensation hearings in Kentucky, the Kentucky Court of Appeals has ruled. Nichols v. Kentucky Unemployment Commission, et al., No. 2017-CA-001156-MR, 2019 Ky. App. LEXIS 73 (Ky Ct. App. Apr. 26, 2019).

The Puerto Rico Supreme Court (PRSC) recently held that that a felony indictment constitutes just cause for termination under Puerto Rico’s Unjust Dismissal statute, Act No. 80 of May 30, 1976 (Act 80).1 In Edwin González Santiago v. Baxter Healthcare of Puerto Rico, 2019 TSPR 79, 202 D.P.R. ___ (Ap

Reversing a decision of the lower appellate court, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has held that state law does not require employers to pay employees for routine commute time driving company-provided vehicles between the employees’ homes and their assigned jobsites.