State Employment Law Articles

In New Jersey, The Opportunity to Compete Act, otherwise known as the “Ban the Box” bill, restricting employers from inquiring about an applicant’s criminal background during the initial stages of the application process, became effective March 1, 2015. (For more information, see our article, New Je

California’s Senate Bill 1299, enacted in the fall of 2014, requires the State’s Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board to adopt standards requiring certain hospitals to implement a workplace violence prevention plan by July 1, 2016. On February 5, 2015, the Division of Occupational Safety a

Employers in the District of Columbia will soon be required to provide reasonable workplace accommodations to employees whose ability to perform the functions of their positions are limited as a result of pregnancy, childbirth, related medical conditions, or breastfeeding. The Protecting Pregnant Wo

The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board on February 20, 2015, adopted an amendment to the state Heat Illness Prevention regulation changing the requirements for potable water, shade, cool-down periods, high-heat procedures, emergency preparedness, acclimatization, training, and

Executive Summary: On February 24, 2015, the Commissioner of Labor accepted the recommendation of the New York State Department of Labor's (NYSDOL) Wage Board (the "Wage Board") for a 50 percent increase in the minimum hourly rate for tipped workers, from $5.00 to $7.50 an hour. As discussed in our

Act 135 of August 7, 2014 amended the Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code (PR Code) to exempt from taxation up to $40,000 of salary income earned by a “young employee.” PR Code defines a “young employee” as an employee between the ages of 16 and 23. The Act 135 exemption is in effect for all taxable y

Executive Summary: The New Jersey Opportunity to Compete Act (the "Act"), known as the "Ban the Box" law, will go into effect on March 1, 2015. The Act prohibits employers from inquiring about an applicant's criminal background during the initial employment application process. Employers should ensu

Executive Summary: The right to enforce a covenant not to compete may be lost when the employer first violates the terms of the same agreement, says a New York appeals court. In Fewer v. GFI Grp. Inc. et al., 124 A.D.3d 457, 2015 WL 176227 (First Dep't. Jan. 15, 2015), the Appellate Division coverin

On February 11, 2015, the New Jersey Supreme Court for the first time directly addressed and adopted the standard set forth in the U.S. Supreme Court's 1998 decisions in Burlington Industries, Inc. v. Ellerth1 and Faragher v. City of Boca Raton2 regarding employer liability for a supervisor's harass

An employer did not violate California’s Family Rights Act (“CFRA”) by terminating an employee who engaged in outside employment while out on CFRA medical leave, conduct prohibited by the employer’s policy, the California Supreme Court has ruled. Richey v. AutoNation Inc., No. S207536 (Cal. Jan. 29,

A federal court in Minnesota has rebuffed a plea by the founders of medical device company Rochester Medical to invalidate five year non-competes they signed in connection with the sale of their business to C.R. Bard, Inc. Conway v. C.R. Bard, Inc. (D. Minn. Feb. 12, 2015). Plaintiffs argued that th

The New Jersey Supreme Court has endorsed an employer's right to assert its effective anti-harassment policies and remedial measures as an affirmative defense in opposition to New Jersey Law Against Discrimination ("LAD") claims of hostile work environment sexual harassment based on the conduct of a

Philadelphia has become the seventeenth city in the United States to require that employers provide paid sick leave to their employees. The law, signed by Mayor Michael Nutter on February 12, 2015, applies to Philadelphia businesses with at least 10 employees. Employers who already provide employees

Executive Summary: On February 12, 2015, the Philadelphia City Council passed, and Mayor Michael A. Nutter promptly signed into law, the Promoting Healthy Families and Workplaces Ordinance ("Ordinance"). With this Ordinance, Philadelphia becomes the latest in a long list of municipalities,[1] in add

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower court decision granting judgment on the pleadings to defendant in non-compete dispute based on Arkansas law. The decision in NanoMech, Inc. v. Suresh rested in part on the fact that the non-compete did not include a geographic limitation and w

Executive Summary: A new California Court of Appeal decision has invalidated a 22-year-old healthcare industry exception that had given the industry some flexibility with respect to how it provided its employees working extra-long shifts with meal breaks. The decision is expected to have serious and

After seven years and two previous vetoes, on February 12, 2015, Philadelphia City Council passed, and Mayor Michael Nutter promptly signed into law, the Promoting Healthy Families and Workplaces Ordinance ("the Ordinance") with a May 13, 2015 effective date. With this action, Philadelphia becomes t

A California appellate court recently confirmed in Satyadi v. West Contra Costa Healthcare District that employees need not exhaust administrative remedies before pursuing most state Labor Code claims, even those accruing prior to the enactment of Labor Code § 244(a), which expressly states there is

Employers with employees in Seattle will have to pay one of the highest minimum wages in the country beginning April 1, 2015.

In a published decision that may surprise employers, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that an employee terminated for testing positive for marijuana but who possesses a medical marijuana card1 is not disqualified from receiving unemployment benefits so long as the employee’s use of marijuana is i