Breakfast Briefing: New York Employment Law Update 2016: A Look Back and What to Expect in the New Year

The last year was marked by rapid change in labor and employment law in New York State.  Governor Cuomo and the State Department of Labor made and proposed important revisions to laws that will impact employers statewide, and the Mayor and City Council continued their efforts to impose significant new obligations on employers in the Big Apple.

Please join Seyfarth Shaw as we summarize these recent changes in State and City law, and discuss what employers can expect in 2016.

Topics will include:

• The recently-enacted women’s equality laws, which include “fair pay” protections, an expanded definition of “employer” in sexual harassment cases, an amendment allowing successful plaintiffs to recover attorneys’ fees in sex discrimination cases, a prohibition on familial status discrimination, and a provision clarifying that employers must provide reasonable accommodations to employees with pregnancy-related medical conditions.
• Proposed regulations that would protect transgender individuals from discrimination in employment, increase the minimum wage for tipped workers in the hospitality industry and fast food employees, and govern permissible methods of wage payment, including payment by payroll debit cards and direct deposit.
• The continuation of the New York Labor Law amendments on permissible wage deductions.
• Best practices under New York City’s Fair Chance Act and Stop Credit Discrimination in Employment Act.