Employment Developments And Considerations At The Start Of 2015

The New York Wage Theft Prevention Act's Annual Notice Requirement Is Rescinded Effective Immediately Employers May No Longer Be Able to Depend on New York Courts to Revise Overly Broad Restrictive Covenants EEOC's Heightened Scrutiny of Separation Agreements Critical Amendments to New York's Wage Theft Prevention Act Are Now Law, Eliminating the Annual Notice Requirement Effective Immediately

On December 29, 2014, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law a bill that amends the N.Y. Wage Theft Prevention Act ("WTPA"). As we have previously reported, the amendments to the WTPA were passed by the New York State legislature on June 19, 2014, and were awaiting Governor Andrew Cuomo's signature. The new law repeals the requirement that employers send annual WTPA wage rate and pay date notices to current employees between January 1 and February 1 of each year. According to the signing memorandum issued by the Governor's office, the annual notice requirement for employers is eliminated for the 2015 calendar year. Moreover, an announcement on the N.Y. Department of Labor's website provides that the Department will not require annual statements in 2015. As for the other amendments to the WTPA, including the amendment to increase penalties for violations of the wage payment provisions, the amendment to the limited liability company law to provide for liability for individual members, and the amendments to the N.Y. Finance Law to create a "Wage Theft Prevention Account," these amendments will take effect February 27, 2015.

Employers Can No Longer Rely on New York Courts to Save Overly Broad Restrictive Covenants

New York courts have traditionally bailed out employers by narrowing, rather than voiding, restrictive covenants found to be unreasonable and overboard. In such instances, courts would revise or "blue-pencil" the covenant, striking out or modifying the overly broad components, so that the covenant could be enforced. However, several New York decisions issued last year suggest a trend in which courts are moving away from "blue-penciling" overly broad restrictive covenants, and instead are striking them entirely. In Brown & Brown,1 New York's appellate court refused to blue-pencil an employment agreement that contained an overly broad non-solicitation provision. The non-solicitation provision did not distinguish between clients with whom the plaintiff acquired relationships during her employment and those with which she did not. Thus, when Brown & Brown tried to enforce this provision against the employee following her...