labor lawAdivision of labor law center

The New York minimum wage will increase by 10 cents from $7.15 to $7.25 on July 24, 2009. Many employers point out that a dime an hour will have little impact for employees, but be a major annoyance for employers.

For one thing, every New York employer has to update his or her state and federal minimum wage posters on that date.

However, there is no way to avoid this increase. Under state law, the New York minimum wage cannot be lower than the federal minimum wage. On July 24, 2009 the federal minimum wage increases from $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour under the FLSA.

The federal Fair Labor Standards Act  or FLSA covers employers that engage in interstate commerce and companies with an annual revenue of at least $500,000. These employers are required by FLSA to pay their workers the federal minimum wage.

In 2007, the federal minimum rose from $5.15 to $5.85 per hour. In 2008, the federal rate rose by again to $6.55 per hour. On July 24, 2009, the federal minimum wage will again increase by 70 cents from the $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour. (more…)

Workers in New York State who wish to donate blood may take up to 3 hours of leave annually to go to blood drives off the worksite.

The opportunity is thanks to the New York Employee Blood Donation Leave law, which is enforced by the New York Department of Labor.

Encouraging participation in blood drives, the law requires that employers allow their workers to take the time off during their regularly schedule hours without fear of reprisal or pressure. There are limits on blood drive leave, of course. Workers may not carry the time over from one year to the next. Just because a worker fails to use 3 hours of leave in 2008 does not mean she or he is entitled to 6 hours in 2009.

Every New York employer must display a New York Blood Donation poster.

Blood donation leave must be offered above and beyond existing vacation time, sick leave, or personal leave. The employee must have (more…)

Nursing mothers must be given accommodation by their employers in New York under a new law.

The law is the New York Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Act, passed in 2007. New York joins several other states, including Colorado and Illinois, in passing a law protecting breastfeeding mothers who are working. The bill passed the New York general assembly almost unanimously.

Under the new law working mothers who are breastfeeding must be given a  time and place to pump milk. They are entitled to unpaid break time, and a room must be provided. The room should be private and near the work station. The law states that storage areas and bathrooms are not appropriate.

“This law is in place to make sure that nursing mothers have reasonable privacy and are treated in a respectful manner at their place of employment,” said state Labor Commissioner M. Patricia Smith. “I encourage anyone not being afforded these rights to contact the labor department at 1-800-447-3992 to speak to one of our investigators,” she added.

Under the labor law, Smith noted, any nursing mother in New York now has the right to express their breast milk in the workplace.

Women with infants and children make up one of the most significant, fast-growing segments of the workforce nationwide. The New York Department of health has said that continuing breastfeeding after going back to work is a big challenge for new mothers. Some give up nursing after returning because of the lack of privacy to express milk and because of unsupportive work environments as well as work schedules.

The New York law protects mothers during an infant’s first three years. Management may not discriminate against mothers who fall under the protection of the law.

According to the Lawyer’s Alliance for New York, employers would be well advised to include information in employee handbooks about the new rights of breastfeeding mothers.

State Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines, M.D., stressed the health benefits, both to infants and mothers, of breastfeeding, noting that such infants have less risk of contracting asthma, obesity, diabetes and other chronic illnesses. The effects carry throughout one’s lifetime, he said.

Ex-convicts and others with criminal convictions are the subject of a new workplace poster in New York State.

The poster outlines what is known as Article 23 A of the New York Correction Law. The article, signed into law by New York’s Governor David Paterson, outlines the law as it applies to hiring of people with criminal records.

Under the law, New York employers are legally allowed to consider the conviction of a job-hunter as a negative issue when deciding on hiring, provided the crime the candidate was convicted for relates directly to the job or the license sought.

However, if the crime does not directly relate to the job, the employer cannot consider it during the hiring process. The new law makes it illegal discrimination to do so.

As an example, if an accountant had been convicted of embezzling from the bank in which he worked, another bank need not hire him. On the other hand, if this same accountant had been convicted, not of embezzlement, but of selling drugs, under the new law the employer is not permitted to consider that conviction when making a hiring decision.

Whenever an applicant with a criminal record is refused a job, the employer (more…)

Effective February 1, 2009 New York employers must give workers more notice of layoffs.

The New York State Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification or WARN Act requires employers to provide 90 days notice to employees who will be laid off. The law applies to employers who are closing a plant, planning a mass layoff or a plant relocation that occurs on or after February 1, 2009. It does not apply to individual layoffs.

New York employers who are planning mass layoffs shortly after February 1, 2009 must act now to provide notice before the new law takes effect. The new law, Chapter 475, Section 25-A  of the New York code,  was passed by the state legislature on August 5, 2008.

According to the New York Department of Labor, the state WARN Act applies to any employer with 50 or more worker, who lays off at least 25 employees.

The law applies to (more…)