From April 9th, 2011 onward, employers must comply with significant new procedural obligations under New York State’s recent Wage Theft Prevention Act. The first major change is the requirement of employers to provide every employment with written notification of information such as rates of pay, allowances, the regular payday, the employer’s full name and physical address, overtime rates, etc. This information must be provided both at the time of hire and annually. Furthermore, these notifications must be in writing (not transmitted electronically), they must be provided in English as well as the employee’s primary language, employers must receive written acknowledgement that the notification was received, both the notice and acknowledgement must be preserved for six years, and employees must be notified of any changes to the information at least seven days prior.

Another component of the Act makes it mandatory (more…)

Tags: wage theft prevention act

Make sure you know the rules.

The old adage “get it in writing” is critical when it comes to commissioned sales employees. In fact, the New York Labor Law provides that you must have a detailed written agreement that is signed by both the employer and the commissioned sales employee.

How detailed must the written agreement be? At a minimum, the written agreement must include:

(more…)

Tags: commissioned employee, commissioned sales, department of labor, labor law

What is the Family Medical Leave Act and who qualifies?
The Family Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) was enacted to protect the jobs of employees in need of time off from work to assist family members.  More specifically, it gives employees the right to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job protected leave in any 12 month period to care for a newborn or newly adopted child or a seriously ill parent, child or spouse.  The employer must hold the employee’s job or provide a similar job upon his/her return, continue group health benefits, and continue the accrued benefits earned by the employee prior to the leave (e.g., vacation time, seniority).

To qualify, the employee must work for an employer that has 50 or more employees, and the employee must have worked for the employer for at least 12 months and 1,250 hours in the year preceding the leave.

What are the 2009 changes and how do they apply?
On January 16, 2009, (more…)

Tags: family medical leave act, fmla, leave of absence, unpaid leave