State Employment Law Articles

There have been several notable and recent developments in Nevada employment law both through enacted legislation and advisory opinions issued by the Nevada Labor Commissioner. Specifically, the legislature has passed a law limiting employer access to employee and applicant social media information.

With New Jersey poised to become the twelfth state to enact a social media password protection law and scant case law addressing the circumstances when and how an employer can lawfully access employees’ restricted social media content, last week’s decision by a federal district court in New Jersey p

California Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law a revision to the definition of sexual harassment under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act to make clear that employees who assert claims of sexual harassment need not show the harassment is motivated by sexual desire. The new law becom

Employers who require restaurant employees to pay for cash register shortages, customer walkouts and unsigned credit card receipts from their gratuities violate Section 181.79 of Minnesota Statutes on “unlawful deductions,” the Minnesota Supreme Court has held. Karl, et al. v. Uptown Drink, LLC, et

“In an employment setting, if there is too much work required of too few employees, either the work will not get done or the quality of the work will be diminished,” a unanimous Tennessee Supreme Court stated, upholding a jury verdict against a nursing home’s corporate manager for the wrongful death

An amendment to the California Labor Code mandating temporary leaves of absence for firefighters, reserve peace officers, and emergency rescue personnel (Labor Code Section 230.4) will become effective on January 1, 2014.

Rhode Island recently passed the Temporary Caregiver Insurance law which amended its Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI) program to provide employees with an additional leave benefit and wage replacement benefits during that leave. The law has two main components. First, all Rhode Island employers

California's Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) allows an "aggrieved employee" to recover civil penalties for certain violations of the California Labor Code. The amount of recovery in a PAGA action is based on the number of pay periods in which violations of the Labor Code have taken plac

The Indiana Court of Appeals determined in an unpublished opinion that an employer presented a prima facie case that a five-year restriction in a non-compete agreement was reasonable. Mayne v O’Bannon Publishing Co., 36 IER Cases 279 (Ind. Ct. App. 2013). Elizabeth Mayne operated a small commercial

Executive Summary: Banks and other financial institutions in Tennessee should take note of a recent string of lawsuits filed in Tennessee challenging the accessibility of automatic teller machines (ATMs). The lawsuits, which seek class certification, have been brought by a visually impaired plaintif

On August 12, 2013, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled that the state Wage Act does not preempt common law claims for unpaid wages. Employers may therefore be liable to employees for unpaid wages for up to six years, under breach of contract or similar theories.

Executive Summary: The Nashville Post recently reported that Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam may be open to legislative efforts to include additional protections for employee gun owners in 2014.

The North Dakota Supreme Court upheld a judgment finding two employees of SolarBee, Inc., a North Dakota corporation that manufactures solar-powered water circulators, liable for a total of $621,800 in damages for breaching a non-compete agreement while still employed. The Court’s decision in SolarB

An employer could be held liable for its employee’s off-duty accident as long as the proximate cause of the injury (here, alcohol consumption) occurred within the scope of employment, the California Court of Appeal has held, reversing summary judgment in favor of the employer. Purton v. Marriott Int

Nearly 10 years ago, California became the first – and so far only – state to pass a law mandating hospitals assign a certain number of patients to each nurse. As we reported in May, a growing number of legislatures in other states have or are currently considering nurse-to-patient ratio legislation

Massachusetts has repealed both the Fair Share Contribution (FSC) provisions and the employee Health Insurance Responsibility Disclosure (HIRD) form collection requirement that were part of the Commonwealth’s 2006 health care reform efforts. The repeal was included in the state’s 2014 fiscal year bu

A federal court in Wisconsin recently granted preliminary approval to a $3.5 million settlement between a hospital and nearly 1,400 nurses in one of the many recent cases involving automatic deduction of meal breaks from wages.

Tennessee law previously required that a disabled person operating a guide dog first present for inspection credentials issued by an accredited school for training dog guides before admittance to a place of public accommodation and that a guide dog wear a harness and be held on a leash. The Tennesse

Earlier this year, Jackson Lewis opened a new office in San Juan, Puerto Rico serving clients throughout the Commonwealth. We thought we would take the opportunity to discuss the enforceability of non-competes under Puerto Rico law. As in many other jurisdictions, the validity and enforceability of

A unanimous New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that individuals seeking punitive damages under the state Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA) must present clear and convincing evidence of upper management’s actual participation in the wrongful conduct or willful indifference to the wrongful