On March 29, 2023, the New York Department of Labor announced a proposal to update the New York Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (NY WARN) Act regulations to provide clarification and conform to statutory changes enacted in 2021. The public comment period for the proposed regulations will remain open until May 30, 2023.

The NY WARN Act, originally enacted in 2008, and the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) require private employers to provide employees with written notice of impending mass layoffs, plant closures and relocations.

Read More >> New York Proposes Update to WARN Act

On Jan. 14, 2021, New York State Department of Labor (DOL) Commissioner Roberta Reardon signed an Order to temporarily modify the unemployment benefit charging system and ease the burden for unemployment insurance charges incurred by all employers during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Read More >> NY DOL Indefinitely Cancels Unemployment Insurance Charges

The long-awaited stimulus relief bill has officially been enacted. On Dec. 21, 2020, Congress passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Bill), several months after aid had lapsed for many individuals and businesses from the first stimulus bill passed early-on in the COVID-19 pandemic. Congress came together to push through a 5,593 page, $900 billion stimulus package intended to help those individuals and businesses who continue to struggle economically as a result of the ongoing pandemic. After expressing bipartisan criticism of its contents, President Trump finally signed the Bill on Dec. 27, 2020. 

Read More >> Long-Awaited Stimulus Relief Bill Has Passed: Key Highlights for Employers

In what will surely be an important decision for “gig” economy businesses, the Third Department recently upheld two decisions of the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board finding that Uber is an employer and therefore required to make unemployment insurance contributions.¹ 

Read More >> Third Department Upholds Finding that Uber is an Employer