While New York State is in the process of lifting many COVID-19 related restrictions, the commercial eviction moratorium related to COVID-19 hardship is in effect through August 31, 2021 Protections for certain commercial lease guarantors, however, expired on June 30, 2021 These protections were initially put in place by the New York City Council under [...]

United States Department of Labor Retracts Clarification on Independent Contract Status Under the Fair Labor Standards Act On January 6, 2021, the United State Department of Labor issued a clarification and “final rule,” which clarifies the difference between an independent contractor or an employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This rule has taken [...]

To say that most businesses were not prepared for the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic would be quite an understatement. Although several Asian countries had lived through and learned from the SARS and swine flu outbreaks, nobody was really prepared for what 2020 had in store. U.S. citizens hadn’t lived through anything remotely similar since the 1918 [...]

The global COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic is going into its second year now, and millions of small and large businesses are feeling the squeeze. Some had no choice but to furlough or lay off millions of employees or shut down operations indefinitely. In fact, 9 million U.S. small businesses may shut down this year if stimulus [...]

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, partially expired as of December 31, 2020. The Act required employers with fewer than 500 employees to provide employees with paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons directly related to COVID-19. As of [...]

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo recently signed the COVID-19 Emergency Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2020. The Act prevents residential evictions, foreclosure proceedings, credit discrimination and negative credit reporting related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Act also extends the Senior Citizens' Homeowner Exemption and Disabled Homeowner Exemption and adds to New York State's efforts to [...]

Effective September 30, 2020, all New York state employers are required to provide their employees with either 40 or 56 hours of sick leave as follows: i. Employers with 4 employees or fewer with a net income of less than $1 million in the previous tax year must provide employees at least 40 hours of [...]

The New York State Department of Labor announced the implementation of a new law to further narrow the wage gap between male and female employees. This law takes effect on January 6, 2020, and prohibits both public and private employers from asking orally or in writing for job applicants to provide their wage or salary [...]

A new legislative package requires that starting on October 9, 2019, employers in New York State must adopt a sexual harassment prevention policy and training or use a similar policy and training that meet or exceed the law’s minimum standards. The following minimum standards include: The policy must:    prohibit sexual harassment consistent with guidance [...]

New York state and New York City recently enacted new requirements for employers in regards to sexual harassment prevention. Effective September 6, 2018, employers will be required to display an anti-sexual harassment rights and responsibilities poster in a visible way in employee break rooms or other areas of the workplaces where employees commonly gather. The [...]