California enacted several new employment laws for 2024, summarized below, including expanded paid sick leave, leave for reproductive loss, protections for employee cannabis use, additional noncompete enforcement limitations, workplace violence prevention program requirements, and industry-specific workplace laws.

Q: I heard New York amended the law on nondisclosure provisions in employee settlement agreements. What do I need to know?

A: New York has long imposed burdensome requirements on employers who want to include confidentiality provisions in settlement agreements resolving claims of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation. New York recently amended those requirements, effective November 17. While the amendments lessen the burden on employers in one respect, they increase the burden in several other respects. Violation of the new requirements will result in the invalidation of the employee’s release. As such, it is critical for employers to understand and comply with these new requirements.

In this episode of the Hiring to Firing Podcast, Partners Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs sit down with Fawn Collingwood, VP of Human Resources at United Safety, about the essence and importance of “grit” in the workplace. With clips from the classic movie, A League of Their Own, they explore how resilience, determination, and teamwork can shape a modern work environment.

Building on the foundation laid in the first episode, the second installment of this series uses additional examples from the TV show The Office to delve deeper into the intricacies of noncompetes. This time, Troutman Pepper Partners Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs join Labor + Employment Partner Matt DelDuca and Employee Benefits + Executive Compensation Partner Jim Earle to focus on the concept of “forfeiture for competition.” Key points that were highlighted include:

In the first episode of this two-part series, our Labor + Employment and Employee Benefits + Executive Compensation practices join forces and provide a comprehensive overview of noncompete agreements. Troutman Pepper Partners Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs join Partners Constance Brewster and Jim Earle to discuss the popular TV series, The Office, and the basics of noncompetes, their legal implications, and their role in the modern business world, all while drawing interesting parallels to situations from the TV series. Key topics covered include:

Atlanta Seminar: Thursday, November 30 | 7:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Philadelphia Seminar: Tuesday, December 5 | 7:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Join the Troutman Pepper Labor and Employment Team as they delve into a diverse array of pressing labor and employment topics shaping the modern workplace. Benefit from their firsthand experiences as they shed light on the complexities and implications of these issues. The seminar is designed to provide a comprehensive overview of the latest developments in labor and employment law, and to equip you with knowledge and tools to navigate the ever-changing legal landscape.

Explore the complex intersection of agency inquiries and workplace confidentiality in this episode of the Hiring to Firing Podcast. Troutman Pepper Partners Tracey Diamond and Evan Gibbs join Partner Abbey Hazlett to delve into the challenging decisions employers face when agents come knocking, seeking information about purported criminal activity by the company or an employee.

Should artificial intelligence be used in hiring processes? Many Americans are skeptical, raising fears of a ‘Matrix’-style dystopian future, but AI, and particularly generative AI, is becoming an increasingly important tool for workplace efficiency and management. In the Matrix, AI-powered machines took over the world, using human beings as their energy source.  In their latest article, Troutman Pepper’s Tracey Diamond, Evan Gibbs and Alison Grounds discuss the potential for dystopian results from generative AI and outline the significant opportunities and challenges that generative AI present in the workplace.

This summer, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois further bolstered Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act’s (BIPA) nearly unfettered private right of action in Lewis v. Maverick Transportation. In a simple but firm four-page ruling, Judge Rosenstengel denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss, holding that a cause of action under BIPA does not require a plaintiff to plead that data collected is used for identification purposes. The ruling serves to highlight the apparent lack of any real technical defenses to the statute — making it imperative that companies focus on strict compliance before they find themselves in court.