State Employment Law Articles

Earlier this week, a California Court of Appeal issued its published opinion in Garrido v. Air Liquide Industrial U.S., holding that a class action waiver in an employment arbitration agreement was unconscionable and unenforceable. You're thinking, "Wait, I thought the California Supreme Court ruled

The Jersey City Council has approved and adopted an ordinance amending the Jersey City sick leave law to make paid sick leave available to more workers in the second largest city in New Jersey.

With holiday hiring in full swing, it is a good time to review some basic rules about employment applications in California. In general, employers should not request the following information on employment applications:

A New York City ordinance requiring most employers to provide qualified pre-tax transportation benefits to their employees becomes effective on January 1, 2016.

New York City employers must comply with the New York City Fair Chance Act, which restricts when employers can make inquiries about applicants’ criminal histories and imposes additional obligations on employers. (See our articles, New York City Enacts Ban-the-Box Legislation and Reminder: New York C

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed into law a number of bills intended to protect and advance women’s equality, particularly in the workplace. These laws, signed on October 21, will go into effect on January 19, 2016.

New York City employers must comply with the New York City Fair Chance Act, which restricts when employers can make inquiries about applicants’ criminal histories, beginning October 27, 2015. (See our article, New York City Enacts Ban-the-Box Legislation, for a detailed analysis of the law’s require

The New York Workers’ Compensation Board has implemented a new procedure that changes the way carriers manage claims per Section 25(2)(a), which will affect both carriers and employers. The new procedure requires carriers to accept or controvert a claim “within 18 days after a disability or within 1

Colorado employers are not required to provide their employees any paid vacation benefit. However, when they do, clear “use-it-or-lose-it” provisions in vacation policies are valid under certain conditions under the Colorado Wage Claim Act, according to the Colorado Division of Labor’s guidance on v

Following the trend set by the Pay Transparency Executive Order 13665 and Governor Jerry Brown’s signing of the California Fair Pay Act, this week New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo (D) signed a series of bills aimed at significantly strengthening fair pay, “pay transparency” and other legal protecti

On October 6, 2015, California Governor Jerry Brown signed three new laws which substantially alter and expand the state’s security breach notification requirements. The new changes to California Civil Code sections 1798.29 and 1798.82, the Golden State’s laws that require notifications by state age

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico recently reaffirmed its previous position that an act of aggression by an employee towards a coworker is sufficient to establish just cause for termination under Puerto Rico's Unjustified Dismissal statute, Act No. 80 of May 30, 1978 ("Act 80

The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment's Division of Labor has promulgated new guidance on "use-it-or-lose-it" vacation policies. While the Colorado Division of Labor has taken no enforcement position on use-it-or-lose it policies for many years, the Wage Protection Act of 2014 gave the Div

In Cardenas v. M. Fanaian, D.D.S., Inc., the 5th District of the California Court of Appeal held that Labor Code § 1102.5 prohibits an employer from retaliating against an employee who discloses information to a law enforcement agency where the employee has reasonable cause to believe that the infor

With the recent passage of the California Fair Pay Act, California strengthened its existing equal pay law by requiring employers pay men and women the same for not only “equal work,” but also for “substantially similar work.” As a result, employees may now challenge the fairness of their pay by dra

A case involving a claim for breach of an oral promise provides lessons for employers on what “not to do” when discharging an employee.

An employer is prohibited from retaliating against an employee who makes a complaint to a government or law enforcement agency under California law.

When the City of Pittsburgh enacted the Paid Sick Days Ordinance in August 2015, it delayed the effective date until the City Controller’s Office posted regulations and notice information for employers.1 The Controller’s Office published the required notices and a series of FAQs on October 12, 2015.

The Pittsburgh Paid Sick Days Act (“Ordinance”) requires all employers of employees within the Pittsburgh city limits to provide paid sick leave to all full- and part-time employees. The Ordinance is effective January 11, 2016.

Recent class actions have claimed that companies have violated California consumer fraud and unfair competition laws resulting from alleged forced labor in their global supply chains. These state law claims argue that companies are liable for allegedly misrepresenting in various corporate declaratio