LEL Blog

Rising Pay Thresholds May Impede Classifying NYS Employees as Overtime Exempt

February 29, 2024Federal Employment Developments, HR Policies, New York Employers, Wage and Hour Laws

With recent increases that took effect January 1, 2024, the minimum wage in New York is now $16 per hour in New York City and the immediately surrounding suburban counties, and $15 per hour in the rest of the state. Connecticut is at $15.69 and N... Read More..

Legacy of an Unsung Hero: Move Beyond a Medical Diagnosis to Reach Talented Individuals

February 1, 2024Employee Relations, Federal Employment Developments, Harassment/Discrimination, HR Policies, Leaves and Accommodations

This week our family buried an intellectually brilliant, fiercely determined, infallibly kind individual who lived a far longer, fuller life than any doctor might have predicted. Diagnosed with a progressive, increasingly degenerative medical cond... Read More..

Losing Out on Talent? Offensive Language in Your Offer Letter May Be the Problem

January 25, 2024Employee Relations, Employer Notice Requirements, Employment Agreements, New York Employers, Wage and Hour Laws

Half of job seekers in a recent Gartner, Inc. survey reported that they backed out on an accepted job offer prior to starting. I remain stunned by this statistic, which suggests to me that employers have some issues with their hiring processes, b... Read More..

Why Non-Union Employers Need to Pay Attention to the NLRB

January 18, 2024Employer Notice Requirements, Employment Agreements, Federal Employment Developments, HR Policies

The overwhelming majority (nearly 90 percent, according to the most recent report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) of workers in the United States are not unionized. And yet, in the private sector most of those non-unionized workers have... Read More..

We Need to Reframe Our Workplace Discussions of “Race”

December 19, 2023Harassment/Discrimination, HR Policies, Workplace Training

Whoopi Goldberg made headlines and ultimately apologized in 2022 over her strenuous assertion that the Holocaust was not about race. Over the past several months, I have heard anecdotal reports of Jewish employees, alarmed by rising rates of glob... Read More..

How to Avoid Height and Weight Discrimination

December 11, 2023Harassment/Discrimination, HR Policies, New York City Employers

New York City law now prohibits employers from discriminating against job applicants and employees based on their height and weight. New York City has thereby joined the state of Michigan and about a dozen other localities that similarly ban disc... Read More..

New Regulations Require Reconciling NYS and NYC Paid Sick and Safe Time Requirements

November 24, 2023HR Policies, Leaves and Accommodations, New York City Employers, New York Employers, Sick and Safe Leave

New York City employers need to navigate the intricacies of the city’s and state’s largely complementary but not entirely consistent paid sick and safe time requirements. Recent legal changes mean that employers that have not done so in the past... Read More..

Can an Employer Fire Me for My Speech Outside Work?

November 9, 2023Federal Employment Developments, Harassment/Discrimination, HR Policies

Absolutely yes - depending on the circumstances. While we have grown up with the notion that free speech is sacrosanct in this country, the First Amendment actually only prohibits the government from restricting individuals’ speech. The restrictio... Read More..