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Sean Kirby

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Sean Kirby is a partner in the Labor and Employment Practice Group in the firm's New York Office.

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On December 6, 2021, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a vaccine mandate which requires that all private sector employees who work in a workplace in the presence of another worker, or who interact with a member of the public, be vaccinated by December 27, 2021.  The mandate applies to approximately 184,000 businesses in the City.  It extends a vaccine mandate to those employees who were not previously covered by the “Key to NYC” vaccination requirements.  Accordingly, private sector employees who report to work in person or interact with the public will need to be vaccinated by December 27.
Continue Reading New York City Requires Private Sector Employees to Be Vaccinated by December 27

On November 8, 2021, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law (the “Law”) that will require employers to provide written notice to employees before engaging in electronic monitoring of telephone, email, and internet access or usage.  The Law will take effect on May 7, 2022.  Key takeaways are summarized below.
Continue Reading New York State Employers to Require Transparency in Electronic Monitoring

Since taking office, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has prioritized eliminating misclassification of employees as independent contractors.  In furtherance of this goal, on July 8, 2021, Governor Murphy signed four bills into law which make it easier for the state to (i) identify employers who misclassify employees as independent contractors, and (ii) penalize employers for such misclassification.  Highlights from each of these four laws are summarized below:
Continue Reading New Laws Passed in New Jersey Designed to Identify and Penalize Employers Who Misclassify Employees as Independent Contractors

In an effort to combat the recent rise in COVID-19 cases in New Jersey, on October 28, 2020 Governor Murphy signed Executive Order 192 (the “Order”), mandating health and safety standards to protect New Jersey’s workers during the pandemic.  Effective November 5, 2020, the Order requires every business, non-profit and governmental or educational entity to implement certain protocols to protect employees, customers, and all others who come into physical contact with its operations. Key takeaways are summarized below.
Continue Reading New Jersey Governor Murphy Orders New COVID-19 Workplace Protocols

At the beginning of this year, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed a package of legislation aimed at protecting the rights of workers who have been misclassified as independent contractors.  One of these new laws, Assembly Bill 5843, requires employers to post notices regarding employee misclassification.  The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development has now published the required posting in two different sizes (11 x 17 and 8.5 x 11).
Continue Reading New Jersey Department of Labor Releases Posters for Employers to Utilize to Satisfy Employee Misclassification Posting Requirements

On April 14th New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed Senate Bill 2353 into law. The law delays the application date of the New Jersey WARN amendments passed earlier this year and removes mass layoffs due to COVID-19 from coverage under the statute.
Continue Reading New Jersey Gives Employers a Break on New WARN Requirements Due to COVID-19

On January 21, 2020, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed Senate Bill 3170 (the “amendments” or “NJ WARN Act”) into law making New Jersey the first state in the nation to require severance pay for mass layoffs.  The law, scheduled to go into effect on July 19, 2020, will make it dramatically more expensive for companies to conduct a large scale reduction in force in New Jersey.
Continue Reading New Jersey Significantly Modifies the New Jersey WARN Act to Require Severance Pay for Mass Layoffs

Effective February 10, 2020, the top ten members of an out-of-state limited liability company (“LLC”) can be held personally liable for violations of New York’s wage and hour laws. The bill, signed on December 12 by Governor Andrew Cuomo, amends New York’s LLC Law which previously only extended individual liability for unpaid wages to owners of domestic LLCs (text available here).
Continue Reading New York Targets Members of Out-of-State LLCs in New Wage Theft Bill

On December 12, 2019, for the first time in 60 years, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced a final rule clarifying the types of benefits that must be included in determining an employee’s “regular rate of pay” when calculating overtime wages. This new rule becomes effective January 15, 2020.
Continue Reading Department of Labor Issues Final Rule on Calculating the Regular Rate of Pay Under the Fair Labor Standards Act

On November 7th a bill was introduced in the New Jersey legislature that would, like California’s AB 5 (see our previous blog here), codify a stricter version of the ABC test for determining independent contractor classification. The bill, S4204 (text available here), also affirms New Jersey courts’ use of the ABC test under the state’s unemployment law, Wage and Hour Law, Wage Payment Law, and other contexts.
Continue Reading New Jersey Bill Would Codify a Stricter Version of ABC Test for Determining Independent Contractor Status