State Employment Law Articles

Employers in New York City are reminded to prepare for a new addition to the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL), effective January 30, which requires employers with four or more employees to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnant employees and employees with pregnancy- or childbirth-rel

A divided Minnesota Supreme Court has reaffirmed longstanding precedent holding the presumption of the employee-employer relationship in Minnesota is “at-will.” Dukowitz v. Hannon Security Services, No. A11-1481 (Minn. Jan. 2, 2014). This means that either the employee or the employer can terminate

In 2010, the New Jersey Supreme Court created a qualified privilege for an employee taking documents to support an employment discrimination suit.1 However, this past December, in State of New Jersey v. Ivonne Saavedra,2 the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, ruled that the qualified

Changes to the New York state unemployment insurance law will require employers to think twice about how they respond to formal inquiries from the New York State Department of Labor (“NYDOL”) on former employees who have filed claims for unemployment benefits.

A New Jersey appeals court has upheld a state law banning employers from stating in job advertisements that applicants “must be currently employed,” ruling the law does not infringe upon the constitutional right to “free speech.” New Jersey Dep’t of Labor and Workforce Dev. v. Crest Ultrasonics et a

With New York City’s announcement that the economic indicators for implementation of the NYC earned sick time have been satisfied, private-sector NYC employers (with the exception of manufacturing industry employers exempted from the enactment’s coverage) must now fully prepare for the statute’s app

A licensed time-share salesperson was not entitled to unemployment benefits following the termination of her service agreement with a time-share company because she was a “licensed real estate agent” excluded from the Tennessee Employment Security Law, the Tennessee Supreme Court has ruled. Westgate

The California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) is taking aim at employers for wage theft. In the latest example of the Division’s aggressive stance, it claimed Little Lopez Corporation, a janitorial services provider, owed wages to 41 current and former employees and, following an inv

In the first change since 2010, the wage rate required by the Washington D.C. Living Wage Act has been increased to $13.40 per hour. The increase is retroactive to January 2013.

Effective January 1, 2014, as a result of an Ordinance passed by the citizens of the City of SeaTac, Washington,1 certain transportation and hospitality employers in the City must provide their nonsupervisory employees working within the City limits a minimum wage of $15.00 per hour and paid sick an

New Jersey employers now have important new compliance responsibilities related to the 2012 amendments to the New Jersey Equal Pay Act. Effective January 6, 2014, employers must provide notice to employees of their right to be free from gender discrimination in the workplace, including inequity or b

Executive Summary: Both houses of the New Jersey legislature have passed a bill that would amend the Law Against Discrimination to include protections for pregnant workers, including reasonable workplace accommodations and unpaid leave.

Effective January 1, 2014, state-licensed retail establishments are permitted to sell marijuana to the general public under Colorado’s “Amendment 64: The Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act of 2012,” which on November 6, 2012, Colorado voters approved as an amendment to the state constitution. For i

Beginning January 6, 2014, all New Jersey employers with at least 50 employees, whether working inside or outside of New Jersey, will be required to conspicuously post and distribute to employees a new gender equity notice. The notice advises employees of their rights to be free from gender inequity

A U.S. District Court in Utah has held that “Utah’s prohibition on same-sex marriage conflicts with the United States Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and due process under the law. The State’s current laws deny its gay and lesbian citizens their fundamental right to marry and, in so do

The State of New Mexico “is constitutionally required to allow same-gender couples to marry and must extend to them the rights, protections, and responsibilities that derive from civil marriage under New Mexico law,” the New Mexico Supreme Court has held in a landmark decision. Griego v. Oliver, No.

This is a reminder that, effective December 31, 2013, the minimum wage in New York will increase to $8.00 per hour. On December 31, 2014, it will increase to $8.75 per hour; on December 31, 2015, it will increase to $9.00 per hour, or the federal rate if greater than the state rate.

The New York City Council passed the Earned Sick Time Act ("the Act") on May 8, 2013. The Act requires that New York City businesses provide all employees with protected sick leave for their own or a family member's illness, but its effective date was contingent on the performance of New York City's

An employer did not breach the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing under Alaska law for terminating an employee for allegedly falsifying prescription drug records, the Alaska Supreme Court has ruled. Beach v. Handforth-Kome, No. 6845 (Alaska Nov. 29, 2013). Although the employee argued t

Evidence of a prior narcotics conviction could be used to show that the employee was not qualified for a union organizer position, even though the employer did not learn of the conviction until after it made the decision not to hire the plaintiff, the California Court of Appeal has ruled. Horne v. I