Daniel Schwartz

Photo of Daniel Schwartz

Dan represents employers in various employment law matters such as employment discrimination, restrictive covenants, human resources, retaliation and whistle blowing, and wage and hour issues. He has extensive trial and litigation experience in both federal and state courts in a variety of areas, including commercial litigation and trade secret enforcement. Dan is the author of the independent Connecticut Employment Law Blog. The blog discusses new and noteworthy events in labor and employment law on a daily basis.

Connect: Read more about Daniel Schwartz Daniel's Twitter ProfileDaniel's Twitter ProfileDaniel's Twitter Profile
Firm/Organization: Shipman & Goodwin LLP
Blogs: Connecticut Employment Law Blog, Data Privacy Watch, Employment Law Letter, School Law

Latest Articles

Back last fall, we anticipated that this legislative session would be a busy one and so far, the number of bills being considered by the Connecticut General Assembly for employers is substantial. One of the bills that is receiving a fair amount of attention is one limiting employer use of so-called “captive audiences.” Senate Bills 64 and 440 are this year’s versions and would limit employers from being able to talk to their employees about…
DSC03212
Employers who want to (or need to) use independent contractors often scratch their heads at a disconnect – how do you determine who is an independent contractor?  I recall at one speaking engagement years ago, an employer who came up to me and asked: “So are you saying that there are TWO tests to determining if someone is an independent contractor?” Yes, that’s exactly what I was saying. The Connecticut Department of Labor and the…
Dome of State House in Hartford, Connecticut
Yesterday, I tackled the bills floating around the Senate-side of the Connecticut General Assembly,  In today’s post, let’s look at the House side to see what bills are under consideration there: House Bill 5003 is the mirror-image bill of Senate Bill 1 on Paid Family & Medical Leave.  Yesterday’s post gave the highlights, which apply equally to this bill too. Similarly, proposed House Bill 5004 would raise the minimum wage in the state. The details…
photo3
The Connecticut General Assembly is already busy with a full compliment of employment law bills under consideration.  At this point, it seems likely that several will pass in one form or another and thus employers should be playing close attention to the developments. Here are a few of the Senate ones that I’m watching (I’ll tackle the House bills in tomorrow’s post – now available here): Senate Bill 1 – This is the…
blog post winter
In my prior post, I wondered aloud whether there were some rough waters ahead for employers.  Apple recently announced that it would not meet it’s earnings estimates in the first quarter of 2019, in part because of soft demand from China. Other companies are expected to announce some similar issues. Honestly, I’ve had enough conversations in the last few years with HR professionals who just haven’t lived through a major downturn. Think about this way:…
DSC03212
You do a blog long enough and everything comes full circle.  Back in January 2008, I took out my crystal ball and suggested that reductions in force (RIFs) and lawsuits would soon follow. We all know what happened next. The economy crashed and discrimination claims at the EEOC peaked at their highest levels in more than 20 years.   So here we are 11 years later.  A whole generation of HR professionals have never experienced a…
usdol
It’s sometimes easy to forget that the government shutdown has very real-world implications. Case in point? The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. As of now, it’s closed.  The agency has even posted a notice about it on its’ website.  That doesn’t mean that the time limits for filing a charge have been extended.   Generally, federal claims must be filed within 300 days of the alleged discrimination. As noted by the EEOC, “These time limits may not…
generalassembly
January 1st is typically a time for new laws to kick in and 2019 is no exception. For employers, the biggest change is one that I discussed way back in May with amendments to Connecticut’s Pay Equity law. The new law prohibits employers from asking a job applicant his or her wage and salary history. But the prohibition does not apply in two situations: if the prospective employee voluntarily discloses his or her wage and…
sarah
The holidays are here and you know what that means: New Year’s Resolutions. I recently caught up with Attorney Sarah Poriss who I’ve known for many years and realized she had an interesting perspective for employers and how to start the year off right. Sarah runs her own small firm focusing, in part, on foreclosures for individuals.  Recently, she’s been handling matters for homeowners impacted by the crumbling foundation crisis happening in eastern Connecticut.  What…
recording
Now that Thanksgiving is in the past, it’s time to look forward to the future. Well, not before getting a recap of everything that transpired in employment law in the last year. Or at least everything that we can fit in an hour long seminar. The webinar that broke attendance records last year is back again on December 4, 2018 at noon ET. This year, five employment law bloggers are presenting the “Best-Ever Year-End Employment…