New York Employment Attorney Blog
On October 28, 2021, New York Governor, Kathy Hochul, signed legislation protecting employees who report illegal or dangerous business activities from retaliation by their employers. Read all about it here.
Articles Posted in Whistleblower Law
U.S. Department of Labor Releases Fact Sheets on Retaliation
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.
Senators Protest Department of Labor’s Handling of Whistleblower Claims
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.
Congress Enacts New Whistleblower Law
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.
New York Court of Appeals Limits Scope of Health Care 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.