Employment Law Notebook

Sex Harassment training is mandatory in New York starting next month. Policies and training required : https://www.ny.gov/programs/combating-sexual-harassment-workplace

Just published this piece about How Employment Lawyers Evaluate Your Case : https://www.avvo.com/legal-guides/ugc/understanding-how-employment-lawye...

If you work or employ people in New Jersey and took some much-needed vacation time in July, you might have missed the bombshell news that hit July 1 that could affect the pay and benefits of nearly every employee working in the state. That’s the date New Jersey’s new equal pay law, the Diane B.

This is truly a case of Epic proportions.  In May 2018, the US Supreme Court held that employers can prevent employees from bringing class actions by simply requiring the employees to sign waivers.  This has the potential to all but wipe out the ability of employees to bring class actions (which is one of the most potent tools for enforcing wage and hour laws).  Click through to see more: 

Many people don't know, but the way an employee's union comes into existence is by a majority of the employees voting in a political-campaign-like election for it. (The flip side of this means that if there is not a union, then either the employees lacked interest to try to form one, or they voted against it).

This fired School Psychologist initially received devastatingly bad press.

New York will soon have a Paid Family Leave Act in place.  This is consistent with what some other states now have.  What's notable is that this will apply to all businesses, regardless of size.  It's not going out on a limb to forsee that many small mom & pop variety business will not even know about this law, let alone comply with it.

The NJ Legislature is considering a ban on confidentiality clauses in settlement agreements in sexual harassment cases. While this would encourage a more open public record (and identify potential serial harassers), it could cause many employers to refuse to settle.

Job Candidates applying for jobs in New York City should have more flexibility in salary negotiations thanks to a new law going into effect October 31, 2017.  The new law, which amends the New York City Human Rights Law, makes it unlawful for an employer to ask  job applicants, their former employers or their agents for information regarding the job applicant’s prior salary history.

This is useful (although maybe not #5). It's usually best when people come to us before they are terminated to see if there is a prospect for negotiating a severance or a separation from employment that is something other than an involuntary termination.