News

Whiteman Osterman & Hanna of counsel Ellen Bach was featured in the article "What Employers Need to Know About New York's New Harassment Prevention Law" in the July 9 edition of the Albany Business Review. The article highlights changes in the new law and how those changes could have major implications for employers. Click here for the full article.

In June 2019, the New York State Legislature adopted four major pieces of legislation that will have sweeping impacts on public and private employers in New York State.  Three of these bills have already been signed into law – (1) a law requiring employers to provide equal pay to employees in all protected classes, (2) a law prohibiting employers from requesting information and making decisions based on applicant and employee wage and salary histories, and (3) a law expanding the [...]

Effective April 12, 2019, all public and private New York State employers are now required to permit an employee up to three hours of paid time off (PTO) to vote in any public election, if the employee (1) is registered to vote, and (2) requests the time off at least two business days prior to the election.  An employee may request this PTO to vote regardless of the employee’s work schedules or working hours.  However, employers have the option to designate when during the [...]

On July 16, 2019, the Governor signed the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act into law.   When the Act becomes effective on January 1, 2020, it will provide the following labor protections for the first time to farm workers in New York State:  eligibility for overtime pay for any work over 60 hours per week, at an overtime rate of one and one-half times the laborer’s regular rate of pay; a full 24-hours day of rest each week; an 8-hour work day; disability [...]

As part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “TCJA”), Congress created the Qualified Opportunity Zone (“QOZ”) tax benefits.  Owing in part to confusion over the provisions, the QOZ tax benefits were not initially as widely publicized and discussed as most of the other provisions of the TCJA.  However, with the proposed regulations issued by the IRS in October and high-profile funds being created, Qualified Opportunity Funds have been increasingly in the news. [...]