August 11, 2020

New York State Human Rights Law Invoked in Sexual Harassment Arbitration Case

A split has appeared in how to handle sexual harassment cases with a New York trial judge ruling recently that the state’s Human Rights Law prevents companies and employees from entering arbitration over sexual harassment. This contradicts an earlier ruling in New York’s Southern District where a judge ruled that arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) supersedes New York’s statutory prohibition against arbitration. 

There is a useful summary of the most recent decision at Mintz, but the quick takeaways are that when statutory law changed in 2018, which allowed plaintiffs to seek relief in court rather than through arbitration, employers, even those who had previous employment agreements that stipulated arbitration, were arguably no longer able to seek arbitration under the FAA laws; furthermore, the judge argued that any mandatory arbitration clauses were invalidated by the new state law. 

Confounding matters further, in February another trial judge in New York ruled that changes in the law do not invalidate previous arbitration agreements. At the moment, it remains unclear whether employers’ mandatory arbitration clauses regarding sexual harassment complaints are valid any longer. As there are sure to be appeals, this is a case we will be watching.

white line

Help For Health Care Workers - Understand How to Ask to Work Remotely Due to Coronavirus/COVID-19

April 3, 2020
No items found.
This blog post is meant to provide a framework for health care workers who are not directly providing care to COVID patients to have a productive conversation with employers in support of a request to work remotely.

How Will New NYS and Federal Paid Sick and Family Leave Laws Interact?

March 31, 2020
Paid Family Leave
Leave
With expanded Federal paid sick and family leave laws going into effect on Wednesday, April 1st, learn about what both the Federal and New York State laws offer to employees and require for employers.

Questions to Ask Before Making Personnel Decisions

March 25, 2020
No items found.
Employers can think through the following questions when making decisions about employee terminations, reduced hours, or furloughs.

Get In Touch

Knowing where to turn in legal matters can make a big difference. Contact our employment lawyers to determine if we can help you.