State Employment Law Articles

Executive Summary: Nearly one month after Federal Judge Marvin Shoob, of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, ruled that Georgia's garnishment law is unconstitutional, on Monday, October 5, 2015, Judge Shoob issued an amended order in which he narrowed his original

Federal OSHA’s Occupational Injury and Illness Recording and Reporting Requirements (effective January 1, 2015) require employers to report in-patient hospitalizations, amputations and loss of an eye within 24 hours.

On October 2, 2015, Governor Brown signed urgency legislation (Assembly Bill [AB] 1506) that immediately amends California's Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA)1 to address increasing civil litigation alleging technical violations of itemized wage statements (pay stubs) issued to

For the second time in five years, the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) will implement significant changes to its procedures for processing discrimination complaints, under Public Acts 15-249 and 15-5. These changes, including the availability of quick dispute resoluti

The absence of actual economic loss to an employer as a result of an employee’s breach of the duty of loyalty does not preclude the employer from being awarded the equitable remedy of disgorgement, a unanimous New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled. Kaye v. Rosefielde, No. A-93-13 (Sept. 22, 2015).

The minimum wage and overtime pay rules in Colorado’s Minimum Wage Order (MWO) apply to companions for the elderly or infirm who work for third-party employers, a federal judge in Colorado has ruled. Kennett v. Bayada Home Health Care, Inc., 14-cv-2005-CMA-MJW (D. Colo. Sept. 24, 2015).

A bulletin on employment, labor, benefits, and immigration law.

Federal courts must balance the potential harm to the former employee with the threatened injury to the party seeking to enforce a non-competition agreement when deciding whether to grant an injunction enforcing the agreement, a federal appeals court in Atlanta has ruled, possibly changing how court

Executive Summary: Across Georgia, employers are opening their mailboxes to discover that courts have returned checks that employers previously submitted to satisfy garnishment actions. This is the result of decisions by many courts across Georgia to stop accepting garnishment checks in light of a d

The Ninth Circuit issued a surprising decision (disagreeing with the view of many California district courts), holding that the California Supreme Court’s Iskanian v CLS Transportation decision is not preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). In Iskanian, the California Supreme Court held that

Declining to enforce a representative action waiver contained in an arbitration agreement, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in San Francisco, has held that the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) does not preempt California’s “Iskanian rule,” which prohibits waiver of representative claims under the

A New Jersey casino did not violate the state’s anti-discrimination law by enforcing a weight standard for its costumed beverage servers, called “BorgataBabes,” a three-judge panel of the state appellate court has ruled, upholding summary judgment for the employer as to the policy.

As previously reported, on May 6, 2015, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed the "Stop Credit Discrimination in Employment Act" (Act), which makes it unlawful for most employers to use an applicant's or employee's credit history for employment purposes, except in certain circumstances.1

On September 10, 2015, the New York Department of Labor issued an order increasing the minimum wage for fast food employees at certain fast food chain restaurants in New York State to $15 per hour.1 This increase fixes the fast food minimum wage at more than double the federal minimum wage of $7.25,

Georgia's garnishment statute is unconstitutional, a federal judge in Atlanta has held in Strickland v. Alexander, No. 1:12-CV-02735-MHS (N.D. Ga. Sept. 8, 2015), putting the future of state garnishment cases in doubt.

Executive Summary. Last week, a Manhattan Supreme Court Justice denied a motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit against Chinese–American Planning Council Home Attendant Program, Inc., brought for unpaid wages, overtime, and failing to pay workers properly under the Wage Parity Act, among other all

The California Legislature adjourned its 2015 regular session early last Saturday morning. It is now up to Governor Brown to sign or veto the last of the Legislature’s 2015 work product. He has until Sunday, October 11, to do so.

On September 8, 2015, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia entered an Order declaring Georgia’s post-judgment garnishment statue, O.C.G.A. § 18-4-60 et seq., unconstitutional. Strickland v. Alexander, Civil Action No. 1:12-CV-02735-MHS (N.D. Ga. Sept. 8, 2015) (grant

On August 5, 2015, the City of Tacoma, Washington published its final Paid Leave Rules (“Rules”) implementing Tacoma’s Paid Leave Ordinance (“Ordinance”).1 The Ordinance requires nearly all private sector employers to provide employees who work in Tacoma specified amounts of accrued, job-protected p

The United States Department of Labor has signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Vermont Department of Labor that is designed to protect employees’ rights by preventing their misclassification as independent contractors or other non-employee statuses. According to the agreeme