Recently, the Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued four new opinion letters addressing several compliance issues related to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

As the 2020 hurricane season peaks, companies impacted by this year’s hurricanes, including Hurricane Laura, face a host of employment law concerns, including significant challenges maintaining compliance with wage and hour laws. This alert provides general guidance about those issues under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

On September 4, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom approved legislation modifying Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5), California’s worker misclassification law, to allow more individuals to be classified as independent contractors.

Since the COVID-19 crisis began, the New York legal community has been following Governor Cuomo's Executive Orders on a monthly basis with respect to the tolling of legal deadlines due to the statewide emergency caused by the pandemic.

Identical legislation pending in the Pennsylvania Senate (SB 964) and House of Representatives (HB 2725) seeks to amend the definition of “race” in the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act to include “traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles.” 

In a recent opinion, the First Appellate District of the Ohio Court of Appeals reaffirmed the way in which Ohio courts address issues relating to claims arising from vicarious liability and negligent hiring, supervision, or retention.

In a recent decision, the Court of Appeals of Maryland ended the state's use of the century-old Frye-Reed general acceptance standard in favor of the relevance/reliability standard first enunciated by the Supreme Court of the United States in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Maryland is now the 40th state to adopt Daubert.

New York Appellate Partner Nicholas P. Hurzeler and New York Trial Partner James Whalen recently obtained a reversal on appeal of a jury verdict in a Dram Shop case.