State Employment Law Articles

New York’s minimum wage will increase from $7.25 per hour to $8.00 per hour on December 31, 2013. Additional increases will occur annually after that — to $8.75 on December 31, 2014, and $9.00 on December 31, 2015.

On October 17, 2013, in Orca Communications Unlimited v. Noder, Pitch Public Relations, the Arizona Court of Appeals held the confidentiality, non-solicitation, and non-competition provisions of an employment agreement between an employer and its former president were overly broad and unenforceable.

he Missouri Department of Labor & Industrial Relations has announced that, effective January 1, 2014, the state minimum wage will increase from $7.35 to $7.50 per hour for non-exempt employees.

By adopting the “Florida Ban on Texting While Driving Law,” Florida has joined 41 other states where texting while driving is illegal. The new law prohibits, as a secondary offense, manual texting, e-mailing and instant messaging on a wireless device while driving. Drivers cannot be pulled over for

Despite the effort of the California Supreme Court to set forth definitive guidelines on meal and rest period obligations in last year’s seminal Brinker Restaurant decision, employees continue to bring numerous class actions alleging their employers have a common policy or practice of unlawfully den

New Jersey voters approved, 61 to 39 percent, an amendment to the state constitution that increases the state’s minimum wage to $8.25 per hour for non-exempt employees, a $1 per hour increase from the current $7.25 per hour minimum wage. Under the amendment, each year on September 30 the minimum wag

Effective January 1, 2014, Vermont’s minimum wage will increase from $8.60 to $8.73 per hour for non-exempt employees, the Vermont Department of Labor announced. For service or tipped employees, the minimum cash wage will increase from $4.17 to $4.23 per hour, and the maximum tip credit an employer

The Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) preempted the California Supreme Court’s rule exempting claims for “public injunctive relief” from arbitration (known as the “Broughton-Cruz” rule), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled, reversing an order denying arbitration. Ferguson v. Cori

Striking four restrictive covenants in an employment agreement as overbroad, the Arizona Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a breach of contract claim against the president of a public relations firm who set up a business competing with her former employer. Orca Communications Unlimited, LLC

An employer’s non-competition agreement with its employees was overbroad, unenforceable on its facts and could not be saved by the “blue pencil” rule, Judge Neil V. Wake of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona has ruled in an action for alleged violations of restrictive covenants and

An employee who told his employer that he would need time off because he intended to donate a kidney to his sister and was fired two days before California’s new Donor Protection Act became effective could pursue a claim for associational disability discrimination under the California Fair Employmen

On January 1, 2014, Illinois will become the 20th state in the nation to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes. Illinois’ governor signed the legislation, the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act (“Cannabis Act”), to create the four-year pilot program. The program allows patie

Almost one year after the U.S. Supreme Court summarily vacated the original 2011 Sonic-Calabasas opinion (Sonic I1), the California Supreme Court issued its opinion on remand in Sonic-Calabasas A, Inc. v. Moreno (Sonic II2).

The Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) preempts California law prohibiting the waiver of an administrative hearing before the California Labor Commissioner in an employment arbitration agreement, the California Supreme Court ruled in a 5-2 decision. Sonic-Calabasas A, Inc. v. Moreno, No. S174475 (Cal.

Brinker Restaurant Corp. v. Superior Court made it clear that California employers do not have to police meal and rest periods, so it would seem they have a safe harbor so long as employees have the freedom to take meal and rest breaks, right? Not only that, Brinker cited (albeit in a footnote) the

The wheels are in motion and soon the Illinois Firearm Concealed Carry Act will take flight. The law allows licensed individuals to carry concealed or partially concealed firearms on their persons and in their vehicles. Businesses need to act quickly if they intend to limit an individual’s ability t

In Romanello v. Intesa Sanpaolo, S.p.A.,1 the New York Court of Appeals adopted the broad reading of an employer’s duty to accommodate a disabled employee under the New York City Human Rights Law (City HRL), as initially set forth by a lower court in Phillips v. City of N.Y.2 The court acknowledged

On October 10, 2013, California joined the growing list of states with expanded protections for individuals with prior criminal records when Governor Jerry Brown approved a bill (SB 530) amending the California Labor Code.1 Effective January 1, 2014, SB 530 amends Labor Code section 432.7 to include

Effective January 1, 2014, California will become the third state after New York and Hawaii to require overtime compensation for all nannies and other domestic work employees.

The California Legislature concluded its 2013 regular session on September 12 with a flourish, sending a total this year of 896 bills to Governor Jerry Brown for approval (of 2,256 introduced). By the signing deadline last Sunday evening, Governor Brown had signed 800 bills into law, and vetoed 96 (