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In wrongful termination lawsuits, the courts of Manhattan, and federal courts applying NY Law, do not preclude either employers or workers from relitigating issues of fact or law decided adversely to them in unemployment insurance benefits hearings. See N.Y. Labor Law § 623(2). In most unemployment insurance benefits hearings in Manhattan, the disputed issues are one or more of the following: Did the claimant “voluntarily separat[e]”…Read More

On June 26, 2013, the New York City Council, by a vote of 47 to 4, overrode Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s veto of the Earned Sick Time Act, Local Law 46 of 2013 (the “the New York Earned Sick Time Act,” the “Earned Sick Time Act,” the “Act,” or the “NYCESTA”). Effective April 1, 2014, and provided that certain economic benchmarks are met,…Read More

In September 2012, in Kadden v. VisuaLex, LLC, No. 11 Civ. 4892, 2012 WL 4354781 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 24, 2012), the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Manhattan (Scheindlin, J.), after a three-day bench trial, held that the plaintiff individual, a litigation graphics consultant (“graphics consultant”) who held a law degree, was not exempt from the overtime pay requirements of the Fair Labor Standards…Read More

On September 21, 2012, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed into law a statute, N.J. State Assembly Bill No. A2647, N.J. State Senate Bill S1930, requiring New Jersey employers with 50 or more employees to post in the workplace and to provide notices of workers' rights "to be free of gender inequity or bias in pay, compensation, benefits, or other terms or conditions of employment" under the New…Read More

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201-219 (the “FLSA”), and its implementing regulations, 29 C.F.R. §§ 510 et seq., mandate that most employees in the U.S. be paid overtime compensation at 1½ times the regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours in a workweek. However, the FLSA sets forth an exemption from overtime pay for employees “employed…Read More

In Manhattan, a worker who, “without good cause,” voluntarily leaves his employment is disqualified from receiving unemployment insurance benefits. N.Y. Labor Law § 593(1)(a). A worker who quits his job because his employer in Manhattan has moved to a location which is further away from the worker’s residence may or may not be found to have voluntarily left his employment…Read More

The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, N.J.S.A. §§ 10:5-1 – 10:5-30 (the "NJLAD"), prohibits employers, because of the race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, civil union status, domestic partnership status, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender, gender identity, disability, nationality, military status, or atypical hereditary cellular or blood trait of any person, to refuse to hire or employ or to bar…Read More

In March 2012, in Gurung v. Malhotra, 10 Civ. 5086 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 16, 2012), the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (Marrero, J.) awarded, to a 22-year-old domestic worker, damages of $1,458,335 against the maid’s former employers — an Indian diplomat and her husband. The diplomat and her husband, Neena and Jogesh Malhotra (“the Malhotras”), had brought…Read More

In several civil lawsuits (not bankruptcy proceedings) in which this author represented the creditor, the debtor -- usually without its attorney's involvement -- has tendered to the creditor a check, in the amount of only a portion of the debt owed, marked "payment in full," "paid in full," "full payment," or the like. In such a scenario, the creditor typically asks this author:…Read More

No. In Manhattan, NYC, a company may not deduct from an employee’s paycheck, charge against an employee’s wages, or require an employee to reimburse the company for, monetary losses to the company, even if the employee’s carelessness caused the losses. For example, if an employee loses or damages a laptop computer or other property belonging to the company, the company may…Read More