New York Expands Employer Obligations to Provide Employees with Notice of Eligibility for Unemployment Insurance Benefits

Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill into law, effective on November 11, 2023, amending Section 590 of the New York Labor Law. More ›

The 12 Days of California Labor and Employment Series – Day 8 "Expansion of COVID-19 Layoff Recall Rights"

In the spirit of the season, we are using our annual "12 days of the holidays" blog series to address new California laws and their impact on California employers. On the eighth day of the holidays, my labor and employment attorney gave to me eight maids-a-milking and SB 723.

Layoffs and reductions in force were prevalent during the pandemic. Job layoffs severely impacted the hospitality and building services industries during the pandemic. Based on the number of layoffs and the primary industries affected, California passed SB 93 in 2021. This bill created California Labor Code Section 2810.8. More ›

DOL Clarifies Unemployment Benefits in New Letters

Over the last few weeks, employers across the county have had to grapple with an onslaught of new legislation at both the state and federal level. As part of its implementation of the new federal employment law mandates, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has provided two new Unemployment Insurance Program Letters (UIPL) concerning unemployment benefits. We explore the DOL's guidance below. More ›

Commonsense Misconduct Not so "Common": Illinois Supreme Court Significantly Narrows Use of Commonsense Rationale in Employee Dismissal Cases for Misconduct under the Unemployment Insurance Act

In the absence of a rule prohibiting specific conduct, employers can no longer rely merely on what one would deem "commonsense"  to deny unemployment benefits. In Petrovic v. Department of Employment Security, the Illinois Supreme Court narrowed application of the “commonsense exception” to the rule that employers must show an employee willfully and deliberately violated a reasonable rule or policy of which he had notice, to deny unemployment benefits.   More ›