The classification of a worker as an employee or an independent contractor can make a big difference in terms of the worker’s rights and the employer’s obligations. For example, under the Fair Labor Standards Act (the “FLSA”), covered employers must pay their non-exempt employees no less than the then-current federal...
This past Wednesday night, November 8, RPJ Attorneys Alice Jump, Deena Merlen, Ethan Krasnoo and Helen D. (Heidi) Reavis weighed in on “Questions You Don’t Want to Ask Out Loud—Employment Law,” the inaugural Panel sponsored by Equity in Lighting. The Panel provided RPJ the opportunity to answer anonymous employment and...
RPJ Partner Deena R. Merlen , who serves as Co-Chair of the Diversity Law Committee of the FairField Co. Bar Association, is pleased to announce an upcoming event hosted by the Diversity Committee: “Diversity Law: A Half Century of Changing Attitudes on LGBTQI Rights in Connecticut.” This CLE program, which...
By Jill Kahn Marshall and Anna Beckelman On May 11, 2023, the New York City Council passed a bill that amends the New York City Human Rights Law to prohibit discrimination based on weight and height in employment, housing, and public accommodations. The bill is expected to be...
In a first-of-its-kind ruling from earlier this year, the Delaware Court of Chancery (i) clarified that corporate officers of Delaware corporations (like corporate directors) are subject to the fiduciary duty of oversight, and (ii) held that sexual harassment by an officer constitutes bad-faith conduct breaching the duty of loyalty.[1] In...
New York State Assembly Bill A8092B, referred to as New York State’s Lawful Absence Law, recently went into effect.[1] The Law, which amends New York Labor Law §215, prohibits employers from threatening, penalizing, discriminating, or retaliating against employees for any lawful absences under federal, state, or local law, including legally...
Last year, I wrote about a case challenging New York’s reproductive healthcare nondiscrimination bill on First Amendment freedom of speech grounds. Now, in a related case, the Second Circuit recently held that the law may violate the right to freedom of “expressive association” for certain anti-abortion employers. The law in...
By John Beranbaum and Isabelle Kern In terms of women’s rights, 2022 certainly will be remembered as the year the U.S. Supreme Court, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 142 S.Ct. 2228 (2022), overturned the nearly 50-year old precedent, Roe v. Wade (1973), guaranteeing a woman’s constitutional right to...
A bearish economic outlook has launched a wave of mass layoffs throughout the technology, financial services, and media industries. To name a few, Twitter, Google, Goldman Sachs, Microsoft and Disney —the giants of corporate America — are shedding employees at an alarming rate. While the reasoning behind such large-scale reductions...
By Jill Kahn Marshall and Alice Jump On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it was proposing a rule to ban noncompete clauses from all employee contracts throughout the country. These noncompetes, FTC Commissioner Lina Khan argued, “block workers from freely switching jobs, depriving them of...