RPJ is thrilled to congratulate our client Alex Honnold on the Oscar nomination of Free Solo, the National Geographic documentary featuring Honnold's 2017 free solo ascent and the first-ever successful completion of the Freerider climbing route on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced...
This past Saturday, January 19, RPJ Partner Helen D. ("Heidi") Reavis was featured in a scheduled interview on WBAI Radio 99.5 FM about the 2019 Women's March and recent specific changes in New York City and State law. Heidi also took the opportunity to promote RPJ’s Anti-Harassment and Discrimination Prevention Training courses as a means for...
On January 30, RPJ Partner Nicole Page will moderate a panel for the Realscreen Summit 2019. The panel, "The More You Know: Avoiding Liability in the Production Workplace," will cover the many new laws at the federal and state level, specifically for New York and California, on sexual harassment, paid family leave, pay...
As of January 1, 2019, we are pleased to announce that RPJ Associate Ethan Krasnoo has been elevated to the position of Counsel. We congratulate Mr. Krasnoo on all his hard work and success. Mr. Krasnoo advises companies, organizations and individuals on a broad range of complex commercial litigation, arbitration,...
In a rare, but limited, win for employees on the issue of arbitration of employment disputes, a unanimous Supreme Court today ruled in New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira that trucking company New Prime Inc. cannot compel arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) in a class action alleging failure to...
On January 3, 2019, Judge Paul Engelmeyer of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted a preliminary injunction staying enforcement of New York City Local Law 146 (the “Ordinance”), which was designed to address perceived problems arising from short-term rentals in residential buildings. Airbnb, Inc....
As of December 31, 2018, the minimum wage has increased for employers throughout New York State as follows: Employer Type Minimum Wage New York City Employers (11 or more employees) $15.00 Fast Food Establishments* Located in New York City $15.00 New York City Employers (10 or less employees) $13.50 Fast...
As I reported previously, following the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that the Lanham Act’s statutory bar to registration of “disparaging” trademarks ran afoul of the First Amendment, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit struck down a companion portion of the federal trademark law that precluded registration...
As an update of my report from last month on the circuit split on the issue of the recovery of the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s attorneys’ fees in connection with district court review of denials of trademark and patent applications, the PTO Director filed a petition for certiorari...
Ringing in the New Year, both New York and Connecticut have important new employment laws that took effect as of January 1, 2019. In Connecticut, under Connecticut's Pay Equity Law, as of January 1, 2019 employers (and third parties acting on behalf of employers) may not ask an employee or job...