The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the “FFCRA”), which was effective April 1, 2020 and ends December 31, 2020, provides small and midsize employers (under 500 employees) with refundable tax credits that reimburse them, dollar-for-dollar, for the cost of providing paid sick and family leave wages to their employees for qualifying leave related to COVID-19. … Read more
The U.S. Department of Labor has released the model Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) notice (available here). Private employers with fewer than 500 employees must post the notice and are recommended to do so in advance of the April 1, 2020 effective date of the FFCRA. Each covered employer must post the notice in … Read more
The New Jersey Department of Labor has published a table outlining various COVID-19 scenarios that employees may find themselves in at this precarious time, together with an indication of which paid benefits employees may qualify for if they are not being paid by their employer or otherwise the recipient of more generous employer policies. The … Read more
Under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, there are circumstances where employers must pay non-exempt employees for travel time. Travel that keeps an employee away from home overnight is compensable time when it cuts across the employee’s workday. The rationale is that the employee is simply substituting travel for other duties. The time is not … Read more
Some non-disclosure obligation is usually presented to an employee upon hire or termination of employment. Upon hire, the obligation usually takes the form of a stand-alone non-disclosure agreement (NDA) or it is part of a larger employment agreement or non-compete agreement meant to maintain the confidentiality of the employer’s commercially valuable information. Upon termination of … Read more
Many early-stage startups do not have the cash flow to cover the high salaries formerly earned by their founders and key executives. As a result, startups often compensate these individuals with equity in lieu of a higher salary. Startups should not automatically assume this is permissible under the wage-and-hour laws. The federal Fair Labor Standards … Read more
Come November 18, 2019, employers in New York State must grant employees who are victims of domestic violence with reasonable time off as an accommodation in order to: seek medical attention for injuries caused by domestic violence, including for a child who is the victim of domestic violence; obtain services from a domestic violence shelter, … Read more
This past spring, New York’s election laws were amended to provide for an additional hour of paid time off from work to vote. Previously, New York employers only had to provide employees with up to two hours of paid time off from work to vote and only if employees did not have sufficient time to … Read more
New York has long prohibited unequal pay for unequal work based on sex. However, come October 8, 2019, New York employers will also be prohibited from paying employees who are a member of one or more protected classes (no longer limited to sex) at a lesser rate than employees outside the protected class or classes … Read more
In two prior posts (Top Myths About Hiring Independent Contractors and More Myths About Hiring Independent Contractors), we identified six common misconceptions about the use of independent contractors, each of which continues to result in the misclassification of independent contractors by employers. Here, we identify two more common misconceptions about independent contractors that almost always lead to … Read more
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In addition, please be advised that the transmission of information via this website or by e-mail does not establish an attorney-client relationship. An attorney-client relationship with the Law Office of Kristine A. Sova is not established until and unless the Law Office of Kristine A. Sova agrees to such a relationship in a separate written document.
If you are not a current client of the Law Office of Kristine A. Sova, please do not include any information in this e-mail that you or someone else considers to be of a confidential or secret nature. The Law Office of Kristine A. Sova has no duty to keep confidential any of the information you provide.
In addition, please be advised that the transmission of information via this website or by e-mail does not establish an attorney-client relationship. An attorney-client relationship with the Law Office of Kristine A. Sova is not established until and unless the Law Office of Kristine A. Sova agrees to such a relationship in a separate written document.