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On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to be a pandemic. This LR What You Need to Know Now update will answer questions related to employee rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) during the COVID-19 pandemic, based on excerpts from recently updated U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission…
Category Archives: News & Commentary
Researcher and Google Activist
Meredith Whittaker is a Research Professor at New York University, the Co-founder of NYU’s AI Now Institute, and the founder of Google’s Open Research group. She was also a leader in labor organizing efforts, including the Google Walkout and other mobilizations, while employed at Google Her organizing drew from her research, recognizing that a powerful…
Health Plans Must Cover the Full Cost of COVID-19 Testing
As reported in other What You Need to Know Now updates on LR’s website, the recently enacted Family First Coronavirus Response Act (Act) expands emergency paid sick leave and family and medical leave during the COVID-19 emergency. However, the new law also addresses testing for COVID-19. The Act requires all group health plans to cover…
No Waiting Period for Unemployment Claims During Health Emergency
New York and New Jersey have modified the unemployment insurance claim process in order to speed up access to benefits for workers laid off as a result of the Coronavirus public health emergency. Under normal circumstances, New York requires unemployment insurance claimants to wait seven days after losing their jobs before they can claim for…
New U.S. Leave Protections for Workers Amid COVID-19 Emergency
On March 18, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The new law extends protections under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to workers at companies with fewer than 500 employees and also requires companies with fewer than 500 employees to provide paid sick leave to workers under certain…
New York Enacts Emergency Protections for Workers in Quarantine
In response to the growing COVID-19/coronavirus pandemic, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law legislation to protect workers in COVID-19-related isolation and quarantine. This emergency legislation mandates sick, disability, and paid family leave for employees in government-ordered isolation or quarantine. The COVID-19 sick leave, is separate from any accrued sick-leave which an employee may already have….
Levy Ratner’s Allyson Belovin Named to City & State’s Power 100 List
Levy Ratner Partner Allyson L. Belovin has been selected as one of City & State’s 100 most impactful members of the New York Law Community. In its March 9th issue, the publication offers a look at the work that earned Belovin’s inclusion in this year’s list: When Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was sued for blocking former Assemblyman…
Moving to Unionize: The State of Arts Work
Artnet and other news outlets have identified a rising trend: museum workers across the country are unionizing. These acts of organizing in the art world have been framed as a movement sweeping the nation, yet the complexities of unionization for professionals and institutions have remained opaque. This panel discussion will examine the contemporary state of…
Fight for $15
In our role representing the Fast Food Workers Committee, Levy Ratner attorneys helped structure successful workplace actions and demonstrations in New York City that formed a foundation for the national living‑wage movement known as Fight for $15. Micah Wissinger was one of the architects of landmark litigation before the National Labor Relations Board involving McDonald’s Corporation and…
Levy Ratner Champions the Rights of Low‑Wage Workers in Alabama
This case began in 2015 when the Alabama state legislature passed a bill to block the Birmingham City Council’s attempt to raise the minimum wage in Birmingham to $10.10. The wage increase would have made Birmingham the first city in the South to raise its minimum wage. The legislature’s decision to block the wage increase,…