New York Employment Attorney Blog

Today, the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division released three new fact sheets addressing the topic of retaliation under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA).

Each of these statutes contain provisions prohibiting an employer from retaliating against an employee for asserting rights covered by each of the statutes.

Fact Sheet #77A, Prohibiting Retaliation Under the FLSA, provides general information concerning the FLSA’s prohibition of retaliating against any employee who has filed a complaint or cooperated in an investigation and is available on the WHD website at http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs77a.htm.

Fact Sheet #77B, Protection for Individuals under the FMLA, provides general information concerning the Family and Medical Leave Act’s (FMLA) prohibition of retaliating against an individual for exercising his or her rights or participating in matters protected under the FMLA and is available on the WHD website at http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs77b.htm.

Fact Sheet #77C, Prohibiting Retaliation Under the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA), provides general information concerning MSPA’s prohibition of discrimination against a migrant or seasonal agricultural worker who has filed a complaint or participated in any proceeding under or related to MSPA and is available on the WHD website at http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs77c.htm

Earlier this week, Senators Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Charles Grassley of Iowa submitted a letter to the Department of Labor accusing it of violating the "spirit and goals" of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 ("SOX"). The whistleblower provisions of SOX protect employees who report corporate wrongdoing.

Continue reading "Senators Protest Department of Labor's Handling of Whistleblower Claims" »

Last week Congress enacted the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. Among other things, the Act contains a new protection for employees of manufacturers and retailers who do any of the following: (1) provide information to the employer, federal government or attorney general of a state, relating to any violation of the Act or any statutes enforced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission; (2) testify or are about to testify in a proceeding concerning such a violation; (3) assist or participate (or seek to) in such a proceeding; or (4) object to participating in any such activity.

Continue reading "Congress Enacts New Whistleblower Law" »

Last month, New York's high court in Reddington v. Staten Island University Hospital limited the scope of New York's Health Care Whistleblower law in response to a question concerning its scope certified by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Continue reading "New York Court of Appeals Limits Scope of Health Care Whistleblower Law" »