State Employment Law Articles

A new law in Alabama allows individuals to petition to have certain criminal records expunged upon the payment of $300 in fees, plus court costs, and following a successful petition to the court in which the relevant charge was filed. This means that, among other things, a prospective employee would

Under new law, Massachusetts hospitals must limit the number of patients assigned to a nurse working in an intensive care unit (“ICU”) to no more than two. “An Act relative to patient limits in all hospital intensive care units,” signed by Governor Deval Patrick on June 30, 2014, applies to ICUs in

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has signed new law mandating increases in the state’s minimum wage to $11.00 an hour by January 1, 2017.

Perhaps the most significant of the employment law bills passed by the Louisiana Legislature this year is the “Personal Online Account Privacy Protection Act” signed into by Governor Jindal on May 23, 2014.

The Nevada Constitution’s categories of individuals who are exempted from the payment of minimum wage supersede the exemptions previously provided by statute, the Nevada Supreme Court has ruled, clarifying a question that has troubled employers in Nevada. Thomas v. Nevada Yellow Cab, 130 Nev. Adv. O

A California appellate court recently issued a warning to employees who try to negotiate settlements with their employers by making veiled threats to report an employer's real or imagined criminal activity. In Stenehjem v. Sareen, No. H038342 (Cal. Ct. App. June 13, 2014), the court held that an emp

A clause delegating to an arbitrator the authority to decide questions of an arbitration agreement’s enforceability was not unconscionable under California law, the California Court of Appeal has ruled. Malone v. Superior Court, No. B253891 (Cal. Ct. App. June 17, 2014).

Today, July 1, 2014, the minimum wage in the District of Columbia undergoes its first increase in a three-tiered hike, increasing to $9.50 per hour for all District employees.

The California Legislature is nearing its summer recess, which starts Thursday, July 3. June 27 was the deadline for policy committees to meet and decide whether to advance bills under consideration. The following is a snapshot of the major private sector employment law legislative activity before t

In Iskanian v. CLS Transportation of Los Angeles,1 an important decision on employment agreements that contain pre-dispute class and collective action waivers, the California Supreme Court held that its prior decision in Gentry v. Superior Court2 was abrogated by U.S. Supreme Court precedent, and th

Businesses that maintain individuals’ confidential, personal information may need to be more alert in protecting this data under the Florida Information Protection Act of 2014, signed into law by Governor Rick Scott.

The City of Newark has released new guidance and “Frequently Asked Questions” to assist employers with compliance with the new paid sick leave time ordinance, which became effective on June 21, 2014.

The Federal Arbitration Act preempts California law disfavoring enforcement of a class action waiver in employment arbitration agreements, the California Supreme Court has held, overruling its prior holding to the contrary in Gentry v. Superior Court, 42 Cal. 4th 443 (2007). Iskanian v. CLS Transp.

Alabama does not enforce non-solicitation and non-compete agreements against professionals as that term is traditionally defined – to include, by example, physicians, lawyers, and accountants. In G.L.S. & Associates, Inc. v. Rogers, 2014 Ala. Civ. App. Lexis 87 (2014), the Alabama Court of Civil App

The Connecticut Paid Sick Leave legislation has been amended (1) to allow employers to determine the 50-employee applicability threshold in the same manner as under the state’s Family and Medical Leave Act, (2) to allow accrual of paid sick leave hours on any annual basis, not just a calendar year,

Timely summaries of decisions from across New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey concerning workers'compensation matters. It also provides the latest news regarding litigation, changes in interpretive language used by the courts, permanency determinations, and more.

On June 10, 2014, the trial court judge in Vergara v. State of California issued a decision striking down as unconstitutional five provisions of the California Education Code regarding public school teacher tenure procedures.1 The plaintiffs, nine California public school students, argued that the f

Governor García Padilla did not explain his veto of Senate Bill 501, “Law to Prohibit and Prevent Workplace Harassment in Puerto Rico,” on June 13, 2014. Rather, he cited opinions issued by the Puerto Rico Departments of Justice and Labor and Human Resources withholding endorsement of the legislatio

An employee’s e-mail threatening to report his employer to the U.S. Attorney and file an action under the federal False Claims Act unless the employer agreed to settle his defamation claim constituted extortion, as a matter of law, the California Court of Appeal has ruled. Stenehjem v. Sareen, No. H

Currently, Minnesota Statutes Section 363A.33, subdivision 6, states, “Any action brought pursuant to this chapter shall be heard and determined by a judge sitting without a jury.” The amendment replaces that sentence with the following: “A person bringing a civil action seeking redress for an unfai