Long Island Employment Law Blog

The First Amendment protects, among other freedoms, the freedom of speech. The First Amendment applies only to prohibit government conduct, not private conduct. Governments take many forms, including towns, counties, and public school districts. So, the First Amendment applies to public schools and universities. But, in certain contexts, such as schools, the First Amendment does…

What conduct constitutes a hostile work environment? How can a municipality be held responsible for a hostile work environment created by its employees? New York’s federal appellate court recently addressed these questions in the case Legg v. Ulster County. Today’s Long Island employment law blog discusses these issues, and how the Court of Appeals decided…

Long Island employment lawyers, Peter Famighetti and Matthew Weinick, partners of the employment law firm Famighetti & Weinick PLLC, have been selected to the 2020 New York Metro Super Lawyers list. No more than 5% of the lawyers in New York State are selected by the Super Lawyer’s research team to receive this honor. Super…

On April 10, 2019, the South Huntington Water District sent a letter to Juliet Irving. The Water District had been providing health insurance benefits to Irving as the surviving enrollee on a deceased employee’s insurance policy. The letter indicated the District would be revoking Irving’s health insurance coverage. Then, Irving hired Long Island employment lawyers…

On April 3, 2020, Governor Cuomo signed into law New York’s Paid Sick Leave law. The law provides guaranteed paid sick leave to many of New York’s workers. Today’s Long Island employment law blog discusses the provisions of this new law. The law provides that employees can accrue sick leave time based on hours worked.…

Federal and New York State laws require that employees be paid minimum wage and overtime. During “normal” times, employers far too frequently violate these laws. Sometimes, employers intentionally skirt wage laws to avoid paying the high costs associated with employee wages. Other times, however, employers try to comply with the law, but they fall into…

As states across the country, including New York, make the medical use of marijuana legal, new issues are arising in the context of employment. For example, how will employers which require drug testing, respond to the changes in the law and how they will handle employees who are lawfully taking medical marijuana? Few courts have…

A jury verdict is often the goal of parties involved in an employment discrimination court case. But, many times, a jury verdict is not the end of the litigation. Indeed, a party unhappy with the outcome may appeal to an appellate court. This is what happened after Effat Emamian won a jury award of $250,000…

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of religion. On the other hand, the First Amendment prohibits Congress from enacting laws which interfere with how churches govern themselves. When a church makes an employment decision based on religion which negatively impacts one of its…

Long Island employment lawyer, Matthew Weinick, has been selected to chair the Nassau County Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Committee. Founded in 1899 with just nineteen members, the Nassau County Bar Association now boasts nearly 5,000 members. The Labor and Employment Law committee is tasked with analyzing proposals for new federal and state legislation…