On January 1, 2022, a California law went into effect that, among other developments, prohibits nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) that keep employees quiet about the discrimination they have suffered in the workplace. The state legislature passed the bill, known as SB 331 or the Silenced No More Act, on October 7, 2021. What Does the Silenced No More Act Do? SB…
In the last days of 2021, New Yorkers scored several legislative victories expanding legal protections for workers across the City and State. Below, our employment law attorneys explain the types of changes that will be enacted under the new laws in 2022. Legal Protection for Domestic Workers First, the State finally recognized what employment and labor laws have too often…
On September 14, 2021, the co-authors of this blog post published an article entitled “States – The Final Frontier: How State Law and State Courts Can Provide Avenues for Justice and Resist the U.S. Supreme Court’s ‘Lochner Lite’ Anti-Employee and Anti-Consumer Agenda.” In that article, we discussed states’ efforts to provide protection from hostile federal arbitration jurisprudence—including enactment of laws…
Since the pandemic disrupted U.S. life in March 2020, the number of Americans who have worked remotely, at least in part, has more than doubled.[1] After over a year of proof that telework is possible, workers have gained fodder for legal arguments that remote work is a reasonable accommodation for their disabilities without undue burdens for employers.[2] As vaccines have become more…
As of today, July 4, 2021, fast-food workers in New York City are free from at-will employment, one of the oldest and least worker-friendly rules in employment law. At-will employment means that an employer can discharge workers at will “for a good reason, a bad reason, or no reason at all.”[1] This rule generally applies to all private employees in America…
Everyone deserves the right to choose a job where they are treated squarely and paid fairly for their hard work. Unfortunately, some abusive employers—whether businesses or individual bosses—violate this basic human right with exploitative working conditions. By abusing or mistreating workers, however, these employers may also be breaking the law; and therefore, be liable financially to workers for damages. A…
a national public interest law firm with a focus on game-changing employment discrimination cases, seek a Mandarin-speaking litigation fellow for its Asian American Litigation and Finance Practice Group to start immediately. The Fellow will focus on representing plaintiffs in individual and class action employment discrimination matters, sexual assault cases, Title IX lawsuits, qui tam and whistleblower matters, wage and hour…
Workers and students who experience civil rights violations have a plethora of legal tools at their disposal to seek accountability and relief—ranging from constitutional, to statutory, to tort claims. But the courthouse doors have long been closed to one group, whose exclusion from remedies by the government which they defend is particularly jarring: members of the military. Federal civil rights…
As Justice Kagan has famously declared: “We are all textualists now.” But textualism, while purporting to be the ultimate in objectivity and impartiality, is actually anything but evenhanded. In the hands of its fiercest proponents—namely those on the conservative side of the judicial spectrum—it means different things in different cases and for different people and constituencies. The most recent example…
This blog was co-authored by Leigh Anne St. Charles and Kaitlin Leary. Mayor Muriel Bowser recently signed into law a new Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Amendment Act of 2020 for the District of Columbia. The new law, which will go into effect following a 30-day congressional review period, offers sweeping and unprecedented employee protection from restrictive workplace policies designed to prevent employees…