Employment Law Blog

When it comes to the process of finding a new job, negotiation is one of the most tenuous areas for many employees. Many employees have anxiety around asking for “too much” while still getting a fair offer, and this can give employers the upper hand during these conversations. While many people focus on salary and other economics, more employees are using the negotiation stage to ask for other perks.

Sexual harassment at work or on campus is all too common. But when a disabled employee or student is the target of discrimination and abuse because of two protected traits, the effect on that individual can be devasting and traumatic.

A new pay transparency law taking effect on May 15, 2022 will require employers to list salary ranges “from the lowest to the highest salary the employer in good faith believes at the time of the posting it would pay for the advertised job, promotion or transfer opportunity.”

Executives are looking for new opportunities and finding them. While some companies are not willing to give executives the full protection of an employment agreement and only provide a vague offer letter, there should always be a negotiation over the essential terms of any new opportunity, including the description of the position and reporting line, the compensation and equity offered and clear definitions around termination and dispute resolution.

A new documentary on Netflix called White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch explores A&F’s pop culture reign and how it thrived on exclusion. In the documentary, O&G partner Jahan Sagafi discusses his work prosecuting the nationwide race and gender discrimination class action against this "All-American" fashion company that was sued for behaving in such an unamerican way.

This week, Congress passed what may shape up to be one of the most groundbreaking employment laws passed in the last decades. The Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (H.R. 4445) amends part of the Federal Arbitration Act that props up forced arbitration agreements for sexual harassment and sexual assault claims. Because of this new law, victims of sexual harassment and assault will no longer be silenced or forced to give up their day in court and will be able to publicly hold perpetrators responsible. We hope that this may soon also be the case for workers who are victims of other forms of workplace discrimination and wage theft, ending forced arbitration for all workers’ rights violations.

Congress recently passed a groundbreaking new law that will amend certain sections of the Federal Arbitration Act, and allow victims of workplace sexual harassment and sexual assault to have their day in court. This bill has significant benefits for workers, including giving worker’s options for litigating sexual harassment and sexual assault claims and the ability to take part in joint, class and collective actions against perpetrators. This law may provide a pathway to end employers’ continued use of forced arbitration agreements in all workers’rights disputes.

New legislation enhances New York's antiretaliation protections for current and former employees and independent contractors.

In a recently published feature, Outten & Golden's Wendi Lazar and Cody Yorke discuss the issues facing workers and their employers contemplating multinational remote work arrangements.

Fair access to loans is a civil right. Our livelihood depends on credit because we use loans to advance our education, purchase a home or a car, or keep our businesses running. This is why it is critical for lenders to stop blocking entire categories of consumers from accessing loans simply because they are not U.S. citizens and instead evaluate their application based on their credit history and profile.