As part of New York State’s fiscal year 2020 budget, Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced an amendment to Section 3-110 of the state election law providing all New Yorkers with three hours paid time off to vote on any election day.…

On March 18, 2018, the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (NJLAD) was amended to prohibit prospective waivers of substantive and procedural rights or remedies relating to a claim of discrimination, retaliation, or harassment and that provisions in employment contracts waiving such rights shall be deemed against public policy and unenforceable. The new amendment further provides that “no person shall take any retaliatory action, including but not limited to failure to hire, discharge, suspension, demotion, discrimination…

On January 25, 2019, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), which prohibits discrimination based on gender identity or expression. Under the law, “gender identity or expression” is defined as a “person’s actual or perceived gender-related identity, appearance, behavior, expression or other gender-related characteristic regardless of the sex assigned to that person at birth, including, but not limited to, the status of being transgender.” …

On Wednesday April 11, 2018, the New York City Council enacted a package of eleven bills, collectively titled the Stop Sexual Harassment in NYC Act (the “Act”). The Act awaits final signature from the Mayor. Introduced to the New York City Council just one month ago, the Act was likely inspired by the #metoo movement and includes five sections that will directly affect private employers in New York. These sections include:…

The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) announced today that it was rolling back an Obama-era policy that attempted to increase regulatory oversight of joint employer and contractor businesses. Courts and agencies use the joint employer doctrine to determine whether a business effectively controls the workplace policies of another company, such as a subsidiary or sub-contractor. That control could be over things like wages, the hiring process, or scheduling.…

On November 16, 2016, a federal district judge in Texas barred the Department of Labor (“DOL”) from enforcing its new so-called “Persuader Rule.”  The rule, which would have imposed broad disclosure requirements on employers responding to union-organizing campaigns, has been mired in controversy since it was proposed in 2011.  In April 2016, Sheppard Mullin wrote about the changes the final rule would have made; in June, we covered a proposed carve-out for legacy agreements…