Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Seyfarth Synopsis: Effective June 7, 2023, New York State employers are required to comply with expanded obligations under recent amendments to New York Labor Law § 206-c, including the provision of a designated pumping location and the adoption of a lactation policy. The New York Department of Labor issued model…

Eight individuals, which included seven women and one man, sued their former employer, S&S Activewear, L.L.C. (S&S), an apparel manufacturer, for sexual harassment under Title VII. The employees alleged that S&S permitted its managers and employees to routinely play “sexually graphic, violently misogynistic” music throughout its warehouse, which, in turn,…

Welcome back to The Week in Weed, your Friday look at what’s happening in the world of legalized marijuana. This week, we check in on the move to put adult use on the ballot in Florida. We see that Maryland is working on regulations, as July 1 draws nearer. We…

The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously rejected the Ninth Circuit’s opinion that a poop-themed dog toy should be protected as a parody under the First Amendment. SCOTUS ruled today in Jack Daniel’s Properties Inc. v. VIP Products, Inc. that the right to free expression does not excuse “trademark law’s cardinal…

Seyfarth Synopsis: As Canadian wildfire smoke spreads across the Northern United States, employers should review the CDC/NIOSH guidance on occupational exposure to wildfire smoke and implement effective measures to protect employees.  Canadian forests continue to burn, with about 3.8 million hectares (9.4 million acres) burned at the time of this writing,…

Already stretched HR, ER, WHS and Legal teams are about to confront a (seemingly) never-ending stream of law changes that will require cross-team collaboration to operationalise. At a time when there are already broader economic and market challenges for businesses, leading employers will need to have sufficient resourcing and planning…

Seyfarth Synopsis: Companies have been following with interest the Harvard and UNC cases that address affirmative action in the context of higher education.  Both cases were argued before the Supreme Court on October 31, 2022 and rulings are expected very soon. In anticipation of the Court’s decisions, Seyfarth is highlighting…

  On June 1, 2023, in a resounding 8-1 decision, the United States Supreme Court granted employers an important victory by holding that the National Labor Relations Act and prior precedent did not preempt a state court tort action against a labor organization that sanctioned a work stoppage that was…

The FTC is not alone in taking aim at non-competes. Yesterday, the NLRB’s General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued a memo to all regional directors, officers-in-charge, and resident officers at the NLRB stating that non-competes in employment agreements and severance agreements violate the National Labor Relations Act except in rare circumstances.…

Many in our readership will have embarked (or are embarking) upon a compliance audit of workplace entitlements. Anyone who has done so will appreciate the difficulties associated with what becomes a massive and complex task. The future will see monthly pay reviews as a matter of course rather than large…

Seyfarth Synopsis: Like the New York City Council, the New York State legislature is considering a bill to effectively abolish at-will employment. If passed, the State bill would prohibit employers from discharging employees absent good cause if the termination occurs after a mandatory probationary period.  As we discussed previously, the…