Legislative Updates

While everyone is looking forward to putting the year 2020 behind us, the new year brings new increases in state minimum wage rates. New York In New York City, the minimum wage rate will remain at $15.00/hour for 2021, while the 2021 minimum wage rate will increase to $14.00/hour for Long Island and Westchester, and to $12.50/hour for the rest of the state. As a result of the minimum-wage rate increasing in...

Instead of continuing to maintain a growing list of states from which travelers entering New York must quarantine for 14 days, the governor has announced that, effective November 4, 2020, travelers entering New York from any other non-contiguous state can “test out” of the 14-day mandatory quarantine requirements.  The standards for “testing out” of quarantine are as follows:  For travelers who were...

On October 27, 2020, New York City issued a new “Notice of Employee Rights: Safe and Sick Leave” that must be: (1) posted conspicuously in the employer’s place of business, in an area accessible to employees; (2) issued to current employees; and (3) provided to every new hire at the commencement of employment.  The new notice may be accessed here.  Currently, the notice is only available in English, but...

With Election Day rapidly approaching, and the ability to vote quickly and safely in question due to COVID-19 concerns and precautions, employers in New York State should be prepared for more employees than normal to request time off to vote on Election Day. Despite the options for early in-person or mail-in voting, many individuals may wait until Election Day to cast their votes in person at the...

Effective September 30, 2020, all employers in New York State must allow their employees to accrue sick leave, which the employees may begin using as of January 1, 2021. How much sick leave employees are entitled to accrue and whether the sick leave must paid or unpaid depends on the employer’s size and net income as set forth in this chart: The sick leave provided by...

On July 19, 2020, The U.S Department of Homeland Security announced that it would exercise prosecutorial discretion to defer the physical presence requirements associated with the Employment Eligibility Verification (Form I-9) through August 19, 2020. The "remote inspection option” applies to recently recruited employees who taking physical proximity precautions due to COVID-19 or to employers who...

You may recall that last year the New York Election Law was amended to provide employees with up to three hours of paid leave to vote in any election. This amendment also did away with the requirement that an employee establish that he/she did not have sufficient time to vote before or after work in order to be eligible for paid voting leave. Well, in a complete reversal of itself, the New York State...

The New Form I-9 Has Been Released and Must Be Used as of May 1, 2020. Plus, I-9 Document Review Requirements are Temporarily Relaxed During COVID-19 Crisis. The new version of the Form I-9, which must be used by all employers to verify that new hires are eligible to work in the U.S., was issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services department (USCIS) on January 31, 2020. The changes to...

The NJ Transit Benefits Law, which took effect on March 1, 2020, requires New Jersey employers with 20 or more employees to provide their employees with the opportunity to use pre-tax dollars to pay for work-related transit expenses, consistent with IRS rules. For 2020, the maximum amount that employees may set aside is $270/month for transit expenses, plus an additional $270/month for parking expenses. In...

In the first legislation of its kind in the United States, New York City has made it illegal for employers to perform pre-employment drug testing for marijuana or tetrahydrocannabinols (THC), which is the main psychoactive component of marijuana. However, the law will not apply to applicants for certain jobs including, but not limited to: police or peace officers, or other jobs with law enforcement or...