Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives

On December 7, 2022, New York City Council Member Tiffany Cabán along with three other co-sponsors introduced a proposed bill that would prohibit all employers from terminating employees without (1) “just cause” or (2) a bona fide economic reason.  The bill would amend current law which protects “fast food” employees from being terminated without just cause.

We previously posted about Washington, D.C.’s new law governing non-competes, which became effective on October 1, 2022.  D.C. employers, however, should be aware of a provision buried in the law that has nothing to do with non-competes and requires action by the end of this month.   

Since we last reported on the delay of the District of Columbia’s Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Act of 2020 (the “Act”), the D.C. Council passed the Non-Compete Clarification Amendment Act of 2022 (the “Amendment”), effective October 1, 2022, which significantly rolled back some of the more prohibitive features of the original 2020 version of the Act. 

In February, we examined newly passed New York City Local Law 32, which required employers to disclose salary ranges in job advertisements. The law was set to take effect on May 15, 2022, but, on April 28, 2022, the New York City Council passed an Amendment to Local Law 32 that pushed the effective date of the law back to November 1, 2022.

Following enactment of a similar law in Colorado in 2021, the New York City Council passed a bill on December 15, 2021 amending New York City’s Human Rights Law to require New York City employers to disclose the salary range of open positions in all advertised job postings. Mayor Eric Adams had until January 14, 2022 to veto the bill, but declined to do so, which means the law will take effect on May 15, 2022. The implications for New York City employers are far reaching.

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the City of Philadelphia may enforce its law prohibiting employers from asking applicants about their salary history.

The decision, which overturned a preliminary injunction issued in the district court, upheld the constitutionality of the Philadelphia law under the First Amendment.  The Court held that the law infringed on the free speech rights of employers, but it did not violate the First Amendment because it was narrowly tailored to address a substantial government interest.