Occupational Health & Safety News and Insights
Occupational Health & Safety News and Insights
This article was written by Barbara E. Hoey & Nidhi Srivastava and originally posted to Kelley Drye’s Labor Days Blog.
As we close the books on 2019, and enter the new decade, New York employers should keep a list of all new legislation handy. Below is our brief summary of legislation effective 2020.
New…
This article was written by Mark A. Konkel & Diana R. Hamar and originally posted to Kelley Drye’s Labor Days blog.
Governor Cuomo signed the groundbreaking harassment legislation that we previously covered here on August 12, 2019. The law profoundly alters the landscape of harassment claims in New York and how employers should be…
This article was written by Barbara E. Hoey & Diana R. Hamar, and originally posted to Kelley Drye’s Labor Days Blog.
With the crowd’s chant of “equal pay” echoing at the Women’s World Cup soccer match and again as the champions float down the Canyon of Heroes, the issue of pay equality continues…
This article was written by Constantine (Dino) Koutsoubas, Jennifer Fischer, and Matthew C. Luzadder and originally posted to Kelley Drye’s Labor Days Blog.
On June 25, 2019, Governor Jay B. Pritzker signed the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (HR1438) (“Cannabis Act”) into law. When the law goes into effect on January 1,…
This article was written by Nicholas J. Kromka, Jennie Woltz, and Mark A. Konkel, and originally posted to Kelley Drye’s Labor Days Blog.
Ah, summer: less-demanding schedules, lighter workloads, and a more relaxed work wardrobe. In keeping with the professional reputation of lawyers as killjoys, however, we recommend that HR professionals…
This article was written by Barbara E. Hoey and Steven R. Nevolis, and originally posted to Kelley Drye’s Labor Days Blog.
As we close the books on 2018, New York employers really cannot relax after the bombardment of last year’s employment law changes. Many of these laws will require new levels of compliance…
This article was written by Janine Fletcher-Thomas and Matthew Luzadder, and originally posted on Kelley Drye’s Labor Days Blog.
In August 2018, Illinois governor Bruce Rauner signed House Bill 1595 (“HB 1595”) amending the Illinois Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act (the “Act”) to provide paid break time to nursing mothers “as…
Effective October 29, 2018, the New Jersey Sick Leave Law requires employers to allow employees to accrue 1 hour of earned sick leave for every 30 hours work, up to 40 hours each year. The law permits employers
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This post was written by Matthew C. Luzadder and Janine Fletcher and originally posted on Kelley Drye’s Labor Days Blog.
Medical marijuana occupies a gray space within the United States. Marijuana is an illegal drug under federal law and is included on the Drug Enforcement Administrations’ Schedule I, along with heroin and LSD. The drugs on this schedule are considered to have “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” In spite of the federal prohibition, thirty states have passed some form of legislation allowing for the medical use of marijuana.
This conflict between state and federal law may cause employers confusion—especially in states with expansive disability protections. For example, the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“NJLAD”) which provides extensive protections for individuals with disabilities. The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act (“NJCUMMA”) supplements the NJLAD by stipulating that employees using marijuana for a medicinal purpose are considered to have a disability and such use is protected. These protections, of course, do not force employers to allow employees to use marijuana at work but do pose a dilemma when it comes to workplace drug testing. Many companies require employees to pass drug tests for federally prohibited narcotics. However, the NJLAD requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to disabled individuals. Since the NJCUMMA classifies medical marijuana users as disabled, is a drug test a violation of their accommodations?
This post was written by Barbara E. Hoey and originally posted on Kelley Drye’s Labor Days Blog.
On Friday, July 27, after a 3 week trial in Manhattan , a jury awarded $1.25 million in damages to Enrichetta Ravina, a former professor at Columbia University Business School, who claimed that she was denied tenure…
