On February 14, 2024, McDonald’s workers Kathleen Faber and Lexis Mays brought a nationwide collective action against the company and its franchisees for failing to provide sufficient breaks or private spaces for employees who were lactating, in violation of the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (the “PUMP Act”). The PUMP Act […]
Employees possess a wide range of legal protections and benefits that freelancers, who work for themselves, do not. This often leaves freelancers vulnerable to the whims of their clients, who can potentially threaten a freelancer’s livelihood in ways that would be plainly illegal if done to an employee. On March 20, 2024, New York will […]
On March 12, 2024, bill S2518A/A836 will go into effect, prohibiting employers from requesting employees and/or job applicants provide usernames, passwords, and/or other personal information necessary to access their social media accounts or from requesting or requiring an employee access their accounts in the employer’s presence. Employers are also prohibited from disciplining or retaliating against […]
On January 20, 2024, New York City enacted a law allowing employees to sue for violations of the City’s Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (“ESSTA”). Until now, the only way to enforce rights under the ESSTA was to file a complaint with the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (“DCWP”). The DCWP […]
On January 12, 2024, New Jersey Governor, Phil Murphy signed the New Jersey Domestic Worker Bill of Rights, which guarantees New Jersey’s approximately 50,000 domestic workers, including childcare providers, home caretakers, and caregivers, a minimum wage of $15.13 along with other protections. Previously, domestic workers were exempt from receiving minimum wage under New Jersey’s labor […]
On December 3, 2023, NYC enacted a new law, Int 0569, requiring employers to provide a yet-to-be-drafted “workers’ bill of rights” to employees, beginning July 1, 2024. NYC’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) will write the workers’ bill of rights in coordination with the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA), the NYC […]
On November 22, 2023, the New York City law prohibiting employment discrimination based on a person’s height or weight went into effect. The law amends the NYC Human Rights Law (“NYCHRL”) to include height and weight as classes or characteristics protected against employment discrimination. Prior to the amendment, the NYCHRL protected the following classes: “actual […]
The Second Circuit’s recent decision in Eisenhauer v. Culinary Institute of America made it easier for employers to defeat pay-discrimination claims under the Equal Pay Act (“EPA”), the federal law that makes pay discrimination based on sex unlawful. Specifically, the Second Circuit made it easier for employers to establish the “factor other than sex” affirmative […]
On November 27, 2023, a class action complaint filed in Washington State court was moved to federal court alleging Walmart improperly misclassified its app-based delivery drivers as independent contractors as opposed to employees, who must receive minimum and overtime wages and other benefits depending on which State an individual resides. In determining whether a worker […]
The New York Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has issued new guidance on how to properly plead wage and hour claims against employers. On October 16, 2023 the Court in Abbott v. Comme Des Garcons, Ltd. reversed a district court decision that required an excessively strict level of detail in pleading overtime claims, […]
Last week, a nurse sued a rehabilitation center for automatically deducting 30-minute meal breaks from her and other employees’ wages, even though their breaks were routinely interrupted to care for patients. The Center at Lincoln, a rehabilitation center in Colorado, “serves patients needing physical rehabilitation and/or complex nursing care.” For example, the Center at […]
On October 13, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law that will raise the minimum wage for hundreds of thousands of Californian health care workers to $25.00 per hour by June 2028. Specifically, the law will gradually increase the hourly wage of medical technicians, nursing assistants, custodians, and other support staff each […]
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