At this late date, most New York employers and their advisors are aware of the increased notice and record keeping requirements established by the New York Wage Theft Protection Act of 2010 (WTPA) which first became effective on April 9, 2011. Employers and advisors should also be aware that an important component of the WTPA…

RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS: How to Prevent the Employees from Appropriating Your Business. I. The Types of Restrictive Covenants. There are three basic types of Restrictive Covenants that an employer may use to safeguard against employees appropriating the company’s customers and other valuable assets. To obtain the greatest benefit from this Newsletter, one must understand and distinguish…

Employee or Independent Contractor…the Pitfalls and What an Employer May do to Avoid Them! Why is this Issue Significant to Employers?The basic issue is whether a company may treat a worker as an independent contractor or as an employee. The determination becomes significant when a government agency or a court disagrees with the company’s treatment…

In this challenging economy every employer must give serious consideration to the painful reality of reducing the size of its work force. In some cases this will involve letting go a few employees. Other situations will require a full scale termination of a large number or percentage of employees. These events are often referred to…

Several months have passed since the effective date of a new law[1] that requires companies to take action to document the employment terms of their “commission salespersons.” The New Requirements This law establishes the following requirements for companies that employ commission salespersons in New York[2]: the employment terms must be stated in writing, the writing…

Prior to 1991 the term “Sexual Harassment” was virtually unknown. However, after Anita Hill testified at the Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in October 1991, the phrase was soon burned into our collective consciousness. There followed an explosion of attention on this unsavory topic, in the form of press coverage, cocktail…

Are you fully protected from employment law claims? The New York Law Journal has reported that one in five lawsuits filed in the federal Courts is an employment case. The state courts, as well as the federal, state and local human rights agencies, are inundated with thousands more claims by employees against employers. Win, lose…