Employment Law Blog

The #MeToo Movement has inspired workers to engage in solidarity with colleagues experiencing sexual harassment, and many of these courageous acts entitle individuals to anti-retaliation protections under civil rights, anti-discrimination, labor, and whistleblower protection laws. While it is true that individuals targeted for abuse in the workplace bear the brunt of the dignitary harm and trauma caused by such misconduct, all employees are detrimentally impacted by sexual harassment in the workplace, as  reports prepared by an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) task force and by Deloitte both discuss. As such, all employees have a moral (and at times, legal) obligation to stand by our colleagues and against harassment and discrimination.

The #MeToo movement successfully challenged decades of pervasive sexual harassment in the workplace and all facets of society. Since then, the movement's impact has reverbated throughout society, changing attitudes and spurring much-needed change. Workers, consumers, and citizens involved in the movement have not only held corporations and employers accountable for enabling sexual misconduct, but have also lobbied for legal reforms to effect meaningful social change.

This October marks the fifth anniversary of the #MeToo movement. Decades of silence and tacit acceptance by employers of workplace sexual harassment were finally, loudly, and justifiably challenged. The combined courageous voices of millions of working women, building on decades of persistent activism, made clear that this abhorrent conduct would no longer be dismissed or swept under the rug. Those who engage in sexual harassment and employers allowing such acts to go unchecked and unpunished would at long last be held to account.

Starting on November 24, 2022, workers in New York who were sexually assaulted (often within the context of an employment relationship) but time-barred from pursuing a legal action will have an opportunity to seek legal redress through a civil claim.

As we previously reported earlier this year, the New York City Council passed a law requiring New York City employers with more than four employees to publish the minimum and maximum pay range for any job by May 15, 2022. While this new law was an exciting development for job seekers, many questions remained as to its application and enforcement.

On January 26, 2022, new legislation expanding workplace anti-retaliation protections took effect in New York, extending rights to both public and private sector workers who report employers’ illegal or dangerous business activities. This new version of the statute is the culmination of more than 40 years of tireless work by Outten & Golden Co-Founder Wayne Outten to expand whistleblower rights.

As work-from-home arrangements remain widespread, more employees wonder if their employers are monitoring their email, electronic messaging, or Internet browsing activity (whether they work on employer-issued or personal devices) and whether such surveillance is actually legal. While a recently-enacted New York law does not shed light on which forms of electronic surveillance are lawful, it obligates employers notify employees in writing if they are planning to engage in such a monitoring.

Many employers require employees to sign non-compete agreements that prohibit them from starting new employment with a competitive business, starting their own competing business, or even providing similar services for a finite period of time, within a specific geographic area, or that subject them to other similar conditions once their employment ends. Studies have shown that non-compete agreements are harmful for workers, preventing mobility, weakening wage growth (by restricting an employee’s ability to leave for a higher paying job), and limits the starting of businesses. Non-compete agreements have become increasingly common in recent decades, with between 30-60 million American private-sector workers subject to these restrictive covenants.

California’s state legislature passed a new law on August 30, 2022 that would significantly advance the fight for pay equity. Under the law, which must be signed or vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom by September 30, California employers would be required to post salary ranges for job postings. Further, employers with over 100 employees in the state would be required to submit a pay data report to California’s Civil Rights Department disclosing pay by race, ethnicity, and gender in specified job categories.