State Employment Law Articles

Employers that sponsor an employee retirement plan in Puerto Rico must review plan amendments and/or restatements adopted during 2016 to determine whether they need to submit their plan documents to the Puerto Rico Department of the Treasury (“Puerto Rico Treasury”) for qualification.

The Supreme Court of Virginia, in Francis v. National Accrediting Commission of Career Arts & Sciences, Inc., No. 160267 (Feb. 23, 2017), reaffirmed that the public policy exception to Virginia’s employment at-will doctrine is a narrow one. In Francis, the court held that to state a valid claim of w

On November 8, 2016, Maine voters approved “Question 1”—An Act To Legalize Marijuana (“ALM” or “the Act”). “Emergency” legislation since passed by the Maine legislature and signed by Governor Paul LePage now provides employers with operations in Maine a temporary reprieve from complying with the ant

The validity of mandatory arbitration agreements continues to be a major focus of litigation and legislation. As employers know, the U.S. Supreme Court currently is reviewing the issue of whether class action waivers violate the NLRA in the consolidated matters Morris v. Ernst & Young, Lewis v. Epic

Each legislative session, there are a number of employment-related bills introduced -- some of which are helpful for California employers (and almost always get killed in committee early on) and others which are bad for California employers. This blog includes a list of notable bills that have been

In a much-anticipated decision, the Arizona Supreme Court has unanimously ruled to uphold Proposition 206, the November 2016 ballot initiative that increases the Arizona minimum wage and requires employers in the state to offer paid sick leave to employees.

The North Carolina Court of Appeals has ruled, in an unpublished opinion, that an employee may meet the burden of proving disability simply by staying “employed” with the employer of injury.

On February 28, 2017, in Vaquero, et al. v. Stoneledge Furniture LLC, the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District ruled that Wage Order 7-2001 (mercantile industry) requires employers to separately compensate non-exempt commissioned employees for rest breaks. It further held that the s

The California Fair Pay Act (CFPA) took effect a little over a year ago (January 2016) but already has been expanded to

On March 9, 2017, the Multnomah County Circuit Court rejected the recent move by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) to require Oregon’s “manufacturing establishments” to double count daily and weekly overtime for their employees under ORS 653.216 and 652.020. In December 2016, BOLI mad

Almost two months after signing sweeping employment law reform, Governor Ricardo Rosselló has signed Puerto Rico Act No. 16 of March 8, 2017, known as the “Puerto Rico Equal Pay Act.” Act 16 is effective immediately.

In California, all business establishments, places of public accommodation, or government agencies with single-occupancy restrooms are now required to identify such toilet facilities as all-gender restrooms. In September 2016, California state governor Jerry Brown signed into law Assembly Bill 1732

The New Jersey State Senate has introduced legislation to expand benefits under the state’s Paid Family Leave Law. The bill (S-3085) would double the benefit period from six weeks to 12 weeks and increase the amount of compensation to the employee while on leave

When it comes to legislation restricting employer use of criminal records, California seems to be leading the charge. In the last six months alone, we have reported on a variety of new laws that apply to California employers that use criminal records in pre-hire and other employment decisions.1 Cont

On March 8, 2017, Puerto Rico enacted Act 16, creating the Puerto Rico Equal Pay Act ("PR Equal Pay Act" or "the Act"). The law's stated intent is to eradicate the pay difference between female and male employees. To that end, the Act prohibits pay discrimination based on sex among employees perform

On March 3, 2013, in an unpublished decision in Valdez v. Terminix International Company Limited Partnership, Case No.15-56236, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed a District Court order denying defendant Terminix International Company Limited Partnership’s (Terminix) motion to

An arbitrator tasked with resolving claims brought by a New Jersey school district against a faculty member erred when he impermissibly converted one count of the complaint from unbecoming conduct to one of sexual harassment and found the school district did not present sufficient evidence to suppor

“What did I do wrong” and “Am I doing this correctly?” are frequent questions from clients regarding FMLA administration.

The New Jersey Assembly Labor Committee has voted 8-0 in favor of amending the wage notification requirements under the state Wage Payment Law to require private and public employers to provide employees a statement for each pay period that includes deductions, gross wages, net wages, rate of pay, a

Last week, in the case of Fay v. Total Quality Logistics, LLC, the South Carolina Court of Appeals ruled that language in a non-disclosure agreement was so broad it effectively became an invalid non-compete agreement. The case serves as a reminder for employers to review their non-disclosure and con