State Employment Law Articles

On June 1, 2016, The California Occupational Safety and Health Division issued a high heat advisory, warning employers to protect their outdoor workers from heat illness as temperatures hit extreme highs this week.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, has joined the growing list of U.S. cities mandating paid sick leave for employees working in the city.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo executed sweeping legislation on April 4, 2016, that will gradually raise the minimum wage in New York to $15 an hour1 and provide a phased-in system of paid family leave benefits providing covered employees up to 12 weeks of paid family leave – currently the most comp

In its latest session, the Tennessee Legislature passed four bills that affect Tennessee public and private employers’ workplace policies and procedures.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has signed into law a significant expansion of the Maryland Equal Pay Law, including new provisions to prohibit pay discrimination on the basis of gender identity and to make it easier for employees to discover and discuss disparities in pay.

Executive Summary: Governor Haslam recently signed several bills into law that will impact Tennessee employees and employers in both the public and private sectors. Employers may wish to reassess certain policies and practices in light of these changes.

On May 18, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, announced the final changes to the regulations that govern the “white collar” overtime exemptions to the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). It remains to be seen, however, if and when these regulations will apply to employees in

The Texas Supreme Court ruled today that a party accused of stealing trade secrets does not have an absolute right to be present in the courtroom for the entirety of a preliminary injunction hearing when the trade secrets at issue are discussed. In December 2014, MI-SWACO, a subsidiary of oil and ga

The New York City Commission on Human Rights has released enforcement guidance on the New York City Pregnant Workers Fairness Act identifying five categories of potential violations and emphasizing the need to engage in cooperative dialogue to reach accommodation.

The California legislature has reached the midpoint of its 2016 legislative session. The Governor has signed four bills of significance to California private sector employers. In addition, a few dozen workplace-related bills have moved beyond their initial policy committees, and many have passed the

A federal court in Pennsylvania has allowed an employee to proceed with a wrongful discharge/invasion of privacy claim related to her discharge after a positive drug test result. Wilkinson v. Marvin E. Klinger, Inc., Case No. 4:15-cv-01916, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 58340 (M.D. PA. May 3, 2016).

Executive Summary: On April 19, 2016, the Los Angeles City Council voted overwhelmingly in favor of a proposed ordinance that would permit Los Angeles workers to earn at least six paid sick leave days annually. That is double the mandatory minimum under California's state-wide paid sick leave law.

On May 3, 2016, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin signed a bill into law that prohibits most employers from requesting criminal history information on an employment application. The law adds a new section to the state statutory provisions on “unlawful employment practices.” Vermont’s new law continues

On April 17, 2016, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed legislation authorizing the use of medical marijuana (the Medical Marijuana Act or MMA) in Pennsylvania.

The Oxford, Alabama, City Council has repealed on May 4, 2016, an ordinance it passed a week previously that barred transgender people from using a bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin has made the Green Mountain State the most recent state in the nation to implement statewide “ban the box” legislation. Connecticut may soon follow, once Governor Dannel Malloy has sign legislation passed by the state legislature on May 4, 2016.

The “Protecting Georgia Small Businesses Act” amends Georgia’s Labor and Industrial Relations Code to provide that neither a franchisee nor a franchisee’s employee is considered an employee of a franchisor for “any purpose.” However, the amendment does not apply to the Georgia Workers’ Compensation

Recently, the Minnesota Court of Appeals, in Peterson v. City of Minneapolis, ruled that a complaint process in an employer’s anti-discrimination policy may toll the statute of limitations under the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA). At issue was a section of the MHRA stating that the Act’s one-year

On April 13, 2016, Nebraska’s breach notification statute was amended when Governor Pete Ricketts signed LB835 into law. The Amendment included a variety of changes, including a regulator notification requirement and broadens the definition of “personal information” in the state data breach notifica

Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit issued its decision in Corbin v. Time Warner-Advance Newhouse, rejecting an employee’s claim that he was unlawfully denied compensation for hours worked due to his employer’s poilcy of rounding time entries to the nearest quarter hour. The Ninth Circuit further rejected