State Employment Law Articles

On April 29, 2019, the Minnesota Court of Appeals overturned a state district court ruling and found that the Minneapolis Sick and Safe Time Ordinance (SST Ordinance) applies to employers outside the City limits. Previously, an injunction prohibited Minneapolis from enforcing the SST Ordinance again

In an effort to help businesses, on May 1, 2019, the Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave (DFML) extended both the deadline to notify employees about the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave Act (PFMLA) and the deadline for employers to apply for a “private plan” exemption fro

On May 1, 2019, the Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave (Department) offered Massachusetts businesses a temporary reprieve by extending two key deadlines critical to the implementation of the Massachusetts Paid Family Medical Leave law (PFML). First, employers will now have until Ju

Tennessee employers have a new defense against employees bringing workplace environment-related lawsuits. An amendment expanding Tennessee’s Healthy Workplace Act to include private employers went into effect on April 23, 2019. Prior to the expansion, the law only applied to state and local governme

While best practices would be to use the employer’s registered name, a recent Court of Appeal opinion has upheld an employer’s use of its fictitious business name in its wage statements.

On April 23, 2019, the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights & Opportunities (CHRO) issued a Best Practices Bluepaper as guidance for employers with three or more employees facing accommodation requests from employees for pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions.

On April 12, 2019, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker (D) signed legislation effectively banning local governments from passing right-to-work ordinances. Public Act 101-0003, titled the “Collective Bargaining Freedom Act,” prohibits local governments from passing ordinances barring employers and labor

Last month, the Puerto Rico Department of Labor and Human Resources (PR DOL) issued a press release announcing that all employers will be required to submit their unemployment quarterly returns electronically starting with the first quarter of 2019. This announcement was in accordance with the new r

The 2019 session was a busy one for the Arkansas General Assembly, as the state enacted at least nine labor and employment-related measures in its recently concluded legislative session. These laws range from codifying the definition for independent contractor to banning microchipping as a condition

Over the next several months, the fate of local paid sick leave laws may well be decided by the Texas legislature. But while lawmakers continue to debate whether Texas cities should be prohibited from establishing their own paid sick time mandates, efforts to expand their reach are marching forward.

Despite its name, the California Consumer Privacy Act, which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2020, potentially could impose substantial compliance burdens on and create significant class-action exposure for every employer that employs California residents and has more than $25 million in annual gross reven

The Labor Commissioner fined a Southern-California car wash for more than $2.36 million for alleged wage and hour violations. These fines included both civil penalties and wages owed to employees. This appears to be a continuation of the agency’s enforcement actions against commercial car washes fro

On April 24, 2019, Dallas became the third city in the Lone Star State to adopt an ordinance requiring all private employers to provide paid sick leave to employees, following Austin and San Antonio.

Washington is the latest state to pass additional pay equity protections. One year after enacting the 2018 Equal Pay and Opportunity Act, which included an array of enhanced pay equity provisions, the legislature passed HB 1696, which restricts pay history inquires and enhances pay transparency requ

Update: The Pittsburgh pregnancy accommodation ordinance has been in effect since March 15, 2019.

On April 24, 2019, the Dallas City Council passed a paid sick leave ordinance by a vote of 10-4. This vote comes several months after a petition to get this issue on the November 2018 ballot failed when the city secretary declared there were not enough valid signatures for the issue to make the ball

In response to the dangerous levels of air quality last fall after the wildfires in Northern and Southern California, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) has issued a proposed regulation addressing hazardous wildfire smoke exposure.

How will the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) apply to us? This is a question 0rganizations have asked since the CCPA was first proposed. There remains a number of important questions about the scope of the Golden State’s sweeping privacy law that still need to be answered.

Within his first few months of taking office, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has signaled a strong and clear focus on employers that have misclassified workers as independent contractors. On April 15, 2019, Governor Evers issued Executive Order 20 (EO), creating a joint task force of leaders from key

It was looking like Washington state would be the first state to follow the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), with a GDPR-like law of its own. That effort has stalled, perhaps temporarily. However, both Washington’s House and Senate voted unanimously to send HB 1071 to Gov. Jay Inslee, which w