What rights do employees of tenants or other occupants of office buildings have to bring service animals and emotional support animals into New York City office buildings? What rules and restrictions can the owners of office buildings impose? What questions are building owners permitted to ask about the animal and its owner? Are there any limits on the types of animals that owners must permit in their building?

Labor and Employment chair Laurent Drogin and partner David Kleinmann authored an article featured in the Association of Corporate Counsel’s summer 2019 newsletter titled, “Restrictive Covenants – Choosing Between New Jersey and New York Law for Multi-State Employers.” In the article, Laurent and David discuss restrictive covenants for employers with employees in both New York and New Jersey.

As we head into summer, we would like to share with you some of our most popular legal alerts from the first half of 2019. Our top-read alerts range from construction, labor and employment, tax, corporate and securities, immigration, cooperatives and condominiums, commercial leasing, real estate, litigation and intellectual property, reflecting the broad array of our full-service practice. We hope that our alerts have been valuable to you and your colleagues, and demonstrate our commitment to providing helpful information to you.

Home health aides are often hired through a health care agency to work 24-hours shifts caring for elderly or infirm family members. But what about the law requiring employers to pay overtime where an employee works more than 40-hours in a workweek? The New York State Department of Labor's (DOL) "13-hour rule" has been standard in the home health care industry since at least March 2010, when the DOL issued an opinion letter on this issue. The DOL opined that home health aides working 24-hour "live-in" or "sleep-in" shifts need only be paid for 13 working hours as long as they receive three hours for meals and an eight-hour sleep period, five hours of which must be uninterrupted, during each shift.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has just proposed new overtime rules to replace those that were presented during the Obama administration, but frozen by the courts after the 2016 election. Since this new story broke, much has been written about it in the media. But most reports have buried the lead.

Labor & Employment chair Laurent Drogin wrote an article that was featured in the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) Fall 2018 New York City chapter newsletter titled, "Your Color-Coded Crib-Sheet to Creating Compelling Restrictive Covenants.”

Litigation partner Rich Schoenstein authored an article for the New York Law Journal’s special Litigation report titled, "The Workforce Mobility Act: The Wrong Solution For Non-Compete Litigation.”

Labor & Employment Chair Laurent Drogin published an article for the Association of Corporate Counsel’s (ACC) New York City fall newsletter titled, “Unsettling Developments in the Settlement of Wage & Hour Litigations.” In the article, Laurent notes that in recent years, corporate counsel have been dealing with a massive increase in wage and hour issues, often in the form of a lawsuit, a Department of Labor investigation or an in-house compliance audit. He notes that the vast majority of lawsuits settle before trial, and from a company’s perspective, early resolution limits legal expenses, business distraction and, of course, liability. 

Law360 published an article authored by Labor and Employment partner and co-chair of the Restrictive Covenant practice David Kleinmann titled, “Clearing Up Broker-Dealer Classification Questions in NY.” The article explores a recent decision by the New York State Department of Labor’s Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board that provides broker-dealers with greater clarity surrounding whether Financial Industry Regulatory Authority-registered representatives working in stockbroker positions are properly classified as independent contractors and whether sales mentorship and assistance programs can be conducted without creating an unintended employer-employee relationship.

An op-ed written by Labor & Employment chair Laurent Drogin was featured in the New York Law Journal. The op-ed was in response to Wendy Lazar’s May 1, 2017 NYLJ article, “The Gig Economy: A Threat to Basic Employment Rights."

Business and Employment Litigation partner Richard Schoenstein and Labor partner and Restrictive Covenant practice co-chair David Kleinmann published an article, “Restrictive Covenants: Looking Beyond the Criticism,” for Law360.

ERE Recruiting Intelligence featured an article by Labor & Employment chair Laurent Drogin that explores New York City’s new law that prohibits employers from inquiring about the salary of applicants.

Labor & Employment partner and chair Laurent Drogin authored a Law360 article titled, How A Tweet With No Words Could Impact NY Labor Law.” The article explores the implications of the firing of former New York Post sportswriter Bart Hubbuch, who sued his former employer and alleged that his termination was due to a tweet in which he compared President Donald Trump’s inauguration to tragic dates in American history.

Labor & Employment partner Richard Steer and associate Jonathan Hershberg co-authored a March 16 New York Law Journal article with David Mederrick, the president and CEO of Team Screening titled, "Employee Background Checks: The New Compliance Arena."

The much publicized changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act have been enjoined by a federal court judge in Texas and may never take effect.

A key employee just resigned, took a thumb-drive containing gigabytes of your company’s confidential information, and is now working for your competitor.  Your customers are being solicited and key employees are receiving job offers enticing them to leave. What would you do?  What could you have done?

In what may be the first decision of its kind, the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) Regional Director in Baltimore determined on June 20, 2013 that a staffing firm’s temporary employees constituted an appropriate unit for collective bargaining and ordered an NLRB election to be held to determine whether the temporary employees wanted to unionize.  

As of 2014, under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), an Exchange will be fully implemented and operating in every state.  An Exchange is an organized marketplace designed to help people shop for and enroll in health insurance coverage.  States have the option to implement their own Exchange, or allow the federal government to set up an Exchange in their state.

In the event that your payroll service provider has not alerted you to this important change in the law, please be aware of the following: The New York State Labor Law has been amended (as of April 9) to impose new requirements on employers and to impose greater penalties for violations.  There are three critical parts to the law: (i) Notices for new hires; (ii) Notices for existing employees; and (iii) New information required on paystubs.

The day-to-day matters addressed by our labor and employment group often allow us to spot emerging trends before they become mainstream. One such issue involves claims brought byemployees who have been disciplined after engaging in “protected and concerted activities.”

One of the hottest developing areas in Employment Law is also one of the most dangerous for employers and those involved in setting employees’ terms and conditions of employment. While Professional Employer Organizations (PEO’S) that administer the payrollpractices of employers are particularly vulnerable, traditional staffi ng companies are also at risk of being accused of being a joint employer responsible for failure to properly pay overtime and minimum wages to employees.

A new law that takes effect on January 1, 2008 is designed to combat the growing problem of identity theft by restricting the use of social security numbers (“SSNs”). Whether the “New York Social Security Protection Law” (“SSPL”) law accomplishes its goal remains to be seen, but our immediate concern is to ensure that our clients are mindful of their new obligations.

As attorneys who routinely defend and counsel employers in connection with claims of sexual harassment and employment discrimination, we have seen it time and time again—a poor performer, on “thin ice” already, goes to management and claims to have been sexually harassed or discriminated against by a supervisor.