Effective January 1, 2025, New York employees are permitted to file for workers’ compensation benefits for mental health injuries. Specifically, the New York’s Workers’ Compensation Law has been revised to allow any worker to file for workers’ compensation for specific types of mental injury premised on extraordinary work-related stress and provides that the Workers’ Compensation […]
Minimum Wage Increases In 2023, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation which would increase the minimum wage rates over a three-year period. Effective January 1, 2025, the minimum wage for New York City, Westchester and Long Island will increase to $16.50/hour. In 2026, it will further increase to $17.00/hour. For the rest of […]
As we previously reported, in April 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor published a final rule that would have raised the minimum salary threshold to qualify for the executive, administrative, or professional exemptions from overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The final rule would also have increased the salary requirements for the highly […]
New York State is the first state ever to mandate paid prenatal leave entitlement. Beginning January 1, 2025, New York State employers will be required to provide up to 20 hours of paid leave in a 52-week period for pregnant employees to attend prenatal medical appointments and procedures. The leave is in addition to employees’ existing […]
As we previously reported, the New York State Clean Slate Act will become effective November 16, 2024. The new law provides for the automatic sealing of certain criminal history records and new obligations for employers that conduct background checks. Specifically, for individuals with a misdemeanor conviction, if at least three years have passed since the […]
The New York State Department of Financial Services has announced changes to the employee contribution rate and benefit amounts under the New York Paid Family Leave Law (“NY PFL”) for 2025. Effective January 1, 2025, the contribution rate will be 0.388% of an employee’s gross wages per pay period, for a maximum annual contribution of […]
As the presidential election draws near, it is important for employers to be aware of what their obligations are under the law when providing leave for their employees to vote. Under the New York Election Law, employers must provide for up to two hours of paid time off to enable an employee time to vote […]
On September 4, 2024, Governor Hochul signed into law the New York Retail Worker Safety Act which will impose significant workplace violence prevention requirements on retail employers. Most of the law’s provisions will take effect on March 1, 2025. Specifically, under the new law, retail employers with ten or more employees will be required to […]
As you may recall, earlier this year we reported that the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) issued a final rule banning non-compete agreements for all workers. The rule was to take effect on September 4, 2024. However, on August 20, 2024, a federal court struck down the ban deeming it unlawful. Specifically, in Ryan LLC v. […]
The New York City Commission on Human Rights has issued proposed amendments to its rules governing employment discrimination based on criminal history. Specifically, the proposed rules amend portions of the New York City Fair Chance Act which prohibits employers from inquiring into an applicant’s criminal background before a conditional offer of employment is made or […]
As we previously reported, New York recently enacted the “Freelance Isn’t Free Act,” which provides new protections for freelance workers throughout the state. As a reminder, the new law takes effect on August 28, 2024, and sets forth certain requirements for employers when retaining the services of a freelance worker. The key aspects of the […]
On July 26, 2024, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) issued a final rule—The Fair Choice-Employee Voice Final Rule, that rescinds and replaces several amendments the NLRB made in April 2020. Specifically, the final rule makes three significant changes which are detailed more fully below: (1) it restores the NLRB’s previous “blocking charge” policy; (2) […]
