State Employment Law Articles

One of the outcomes of the #MeToo movement is that state legislatures are revisiting the use of arbitration agreements, confidential settlement agreements, and jury waivers, as well as the scope of anti-discrimination and anti-harassment laws, in the employment setting. Most recently, on March 12, 2

Job applicants and employees in Washington who are survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking will have new protections against employment discrimination under a law that will go into effect on June 7, 2018.

On March 21, 2018, the Governor of Puerto Rico announced his “Initiative to Reform the Labor Force,” with the express goal of increasing the employment rate. Standing alongside the presidents of the Senate and House of Representatives, the Governor anticipated this Initiative would include: eliminat

Effective June 6, 2018, Washington will be the next state to implement “ban the box” legislation restricting employers from inquiring about a job applicant’s criminal background during the initial stages of the application process.

The Puerto Rico Supreme Court (“PRSC”) recently issued an Opinion in the case of Roldán Flores v. M. Cuebas, 2018 TSPR 18, 199 D.P.R. __ (Feb. 6, 2018), in which it addressed again the requirements for applying the “successor liability doctrine.”1 The PRSC held that prior to applying the successor l

The Colorado Supreme Court recently clarified the applicable statute of limitations for wage claims in the State of Colorado.1 In Hernandez v. Ray Domenico Farms, Inc., No. No. 17SA77, 2018 WL 1146468 (Colo. Mar. 5, 2018) (“Hernandez”), the court held that claims under Colorado’s Wage Claim Act (the

California’s Fair Employment and Housing Council (“FEHC”) has proposed new regulations (revised regulations, really) addressing the state’s new ban-the-box and parental leave laws. The regulations are not yet final or in effect, but are being considered by the FEHC and likely will be adopted, potent

The Washington Legislature has sent Governor Jay Inslee a proposed Act that would significantly broaden the state’s Equal Pay and Opportunity Act. The Governor is expected to approve it.

In Garcia v. Hatch Valley Public Schools, the New Mexico Supreme Court recently examined whether a plaintiff has a relatively heightened evidentiary burden in proving a reverse discrimination claim brought under the New Mexico Human Rights Act. The court held that a plaintiff in a “so-called reverse

The California Supreme Court recently decided the question of how an employee’s overtime pay rate should be calculated when the employee has earned a flat sum bonus during a single pay period.1 In Alvarado v. Dart Container Corp. of California, there was no dispute that the bonus needed to be factor

The California Supreme Court has held that, under state law, when an employee earns a flat sum bonus during a pay period, the overtime pay rate will be calculated using the actual number of non-overtime hours worked by the employee during the pay period. Alvarado v. Dart Container Corp., 2018 Cal. L

In Hamid H. Khan v. Dunn-Edwards Corporation (January 4, 2018), the California Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District held that the plaintiff failed to comply with required administrative procedures prior to bringing a claim under the California Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) beca

The home care industry has faced collapse since a series of New York Appellate Division decisions invalidated New York Department of Labor (NY DOL) policy and held that home care attendants working 24-hour shifts who are employed by third-party agencies had to be paid for every hour of the shift and

Under the Colorado Wage Claim Act (CWCA), a terminated employee’s right to seek unpaid wages or compensation at termination is subject to the two- or three-year statute of limitations found in the CWCA, the Colorado Supreme Court has held. Hernandez v. Domenico Farms, Inc., 2018 CO 15 (Mar. 5, 2018)

The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) on February 28, 2018, issued questions and answers (Q&A) to provide additional interpretive information about the Massachusetts Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). This updates the MCAD’s January guidance. The PWFA becomes effective on Apr

The New York City Council has introduced a package of legislation aimed at preventing sexual harassment in the workplace and strengthening the City’s anti-sexual harassment policies.

There are only two states in the U.S. that have yet to enact data breach notification laws, but that may change in 2018. Several weeks ago, the South Dakota state legislature announced that a data breach notification bill (Senate Bill No. 62) was pending. Now, Alabama is following suit.

Effective February 1, 2018, a provision in Maine’s recreational marijuana law impacts workplace drug testing. As we previously blogged here, the law prohibits employers from taking adverse employment actions for off-premises marijuana use, as of February 1, 2018. On its face, this law effectively pr

In a loss for the California transportation industry, the Court of Appeal for California’s Fourth Judicial District recently found in Muro v. Cornerstone Staffing Solutions, Inc., that the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) is unenforceable in employment contracts regarding employees who are engaged in

Executive Summary: On March 5, 2018, the California Supreme Court issued a ruling clarifying how employers must handle flat-sum bonuses (i.e., additional compensation that does not change depending on the number of hours worked by an employee) in the calculation of overtime. Under this ruling, an em