A recap of 2024 employment law and a look at what is coming in 2025.

Dear Reader:

It’s the end of another era. We’re back to December, and we know this time of year all too well – we’re long past the cruel summer, about a fortnight away from yet another year – ‘tis the damn season and it’s time to speak now so you can enter 2025 fearless(ly) because employment laws can be a nightmare dressed like a daydream leaving you haunted, if you’re not properly prepared. Read the manuscript below to avoid employment law becoming your albatross next year.

At the Federal Level

Grab Your Passport and My Hand - Is your I-9 Documentation in Order?

With a new administration coming in January, which promised mass deportation and a general crackdown on immigration, employers should ensure that they are in compliance with I-9 documentation. During Donald Trump’s last administration, I-9 audits were higher than during either the Obama or the Biden presidencies, and that should be expected this term.

Employers should audit their own I-9 compliance to ensure each of their employees has filled out their I-9 Form (accurately and completely) and provided proper supporting documents for verification, such as a passport, green card or E-Verify confirmations, and that the employer section of each I-9 has been properly completed. 

I-9 Forms are required to be completed by employees no later than their first day of work for pay and employers are required to fill out the second section no later than the third business day from when the employee started work for pay.

Last week, on April 24, 2024, the federal DOL increased the minimum salary thresholds to qualify as an exempt employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), from its current $684 per week to $844 per week, effective July 1, 2024. For employees qualifying under the FLSA’s highly compensated employee exemption, they must make at least $132,964 per year.

The DOL’s rule also provides for an additional increase to $1,128 per week, effective January 1, 2025. Notably, the increase in 2025 will have exempt employees across the country required to make nearly as much as those exempt employees in New York State – excluding New York City, Westchester and Long Island. New York State exempt employee’s minimum salary will be $1,161.65 per week- a difference of only $33/week – a far cry from the current difference of $440.20 per week. The 2025 increase for highly compensated employees under the FLSA will increase to $151,164 per year. The rule also provides that these minimum thresholds will now be updated every three years.

In what seems to be a tradition now, the New York State Legislature included within its budget passage a key employment change for New York employers. This year, such change included requiring employers to grant 20 hours of paid leave during a 52 week period to use for prenatal healthcare appointments. Such grant, effective January 1, 2025, is as amendment to the New York State Paid Sick Leave Law and in addition to the New York Paid Family Leave Law. The prenatal healthcare appointments are defined as “health care services received by an employee during their pregnancy or related to such pregnancy, including physical examinations, medical procedures, monitoring and testing, and discussions with a health care provider related to the pregnancy.” Such leave may be taken in hourly increments, rather than any larger time blocks. Payment, at an employee’s regular rate of pay (or minimum wage, if greater), is also stipulated to be in hourly increments. Additionally, like other New York State leave laws, the provisions includes an anti-discrimination  and retaliation provision in response to employees who request or take such leave.

As many of you may have heard over the last few months to a year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a proposed rule that would have banned non-competes. Last week, on April 23, 2024, the FTC released its final rule. Despite months of comments from several protesting, the final rule prohibits employers to enter into non-competes with any worker once the rule is in effect – 120 days after it is published in the Federal Register. Notably, worker is defined far broader than employee – it specifically excludes consideration of classification under any State or Federal laws and specifically includes all natural persons whether an “employee, independent contractor, extern, intern, volunteer, apprentice, or a sole proprietor who provides a service to a person.”

Employers in New York should take note of recent developments related to paid leave to ensure they understand the various statutes as it appears leave related laws are a priority for law makers in New York right now.

There were numerous employment law developments in New York City and State in 2023 for which employers must ensure they are compliant. Catch up with these measures and learn what to watch for in 2024 in our year-end roundup.

In September, the EEOC released proposed guidance for federal harassment claims, with a public comment period open until Nov. 1. The guidance is fairly lengthy and summarizes what constitutes harassment, how liability may be imputed to an employer, and how an employer may best prevent such liability. Get the key takeaways from the proposed guidance.

The Supreme Court recently found that the long-applied standard for the undue hardship defense related to religious accommodations pursuant to Title VII – when an employer can show an accommodation provides more than a de minimus costs to employer – was based upon an incorrectly interpreted Supreme Court case. Learn about the new standard and what what it could mean for your business.

Amended regulations for ESSTA went into effect on Oct. 15, 2023. These regulations are in response to the 2020 amendments to ESSTA, which were prompted by the New York State Paid Sick Leave Law. The regulations act to clarify outstanding questions where the statute was unclear. Learn what the regulations could mean for your business.