Attention Employers and HR!!!!

• Changes the severe or pervasive standard of harassment to a very low standard of more than petty slights or trivial inconveniences;

• Eliminates part of the Faragher/Ellerth affirmative defense to a lawsuit by making the fact that the employee did not make a complaint about the harassment to the employer not determinative as to liability;

• Extends protection for non-employees in the workplace to all protected classes;

• Allows courts to award attorney's fees on all claims of employment discrimination, and allow for punitive damages in employment discrimination cases against private employers;

• Provide that the Human Rights Law is to be construed liberally for remedial purposes, regardless of how federal laws have been construed;

• Prohibit mandatory arbitration clauses for discrimination claims;

• Prohibit non-disclosure agreements in any settlement for a claim of discrimination, unless it's the complainant's preference;

• Provide that any term or condition in a non-disclosure agreement is void if it prohibits the complainant from initiating or participating in an agency investigation or disclosing facts necessary to receive public benefits;

• Require that employees be notified that non-disclosure agreements in employment contracts cannot prevent them from talking to the police, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the State Division of Human Rights or a similar local entity, or a lawyer;

• Extend the authority of the Attorney General to prosecute certain civil and criminal cases of discrimination against all protected classes;

• Require the Department of Labor and the Division of Human Rights to evaluate the impact of the model sexual harassment prevention policy every four years and update the policy as needed;

• Require any term or condition in a non-disclosure agreement be provided in writing to all parties, in plain English and the primary language of the complainant;

• Require the commissioner of the Labor Department to prepare templates of the model policy in languages other than English;

• Require every employer to provide employees with their sexual harassment policy in English or their primary language when they are hired and during training; and

• Extend the statute of limitations to file a sexual harassment complaint with the Division of Human Rights from one year to three years.

On June 14, 2019, rental laws throughout the state were changed forever. We will be updating our network in the weeks ahead of those changes. In the interim, we pose the question - Are attorneys' fees still available to a residential landlord in an eviction proceeding?

Loan Officers (LOs) frequently have issues collecting and entering applicant information on their electronic systems, which results in a denial of the loan. These issues occur when customers don't want to provide the information. At all costs, LOs seek to avoid a loan denial. As a result, LOs often develop strategies to fudge information, as a workaround, so that they can close their loans. These workarounds are often spearheaded by management at structured LO meetings. The LOs and managers know that without fudging the data, their system will hard stop the file and kill their loans. This is a non-starter for one with a broker's mindset.

Lenders - the Consumer Financial Protection Burea (CFPB) recently gave a $1.75 million reminder as to why lenders cannot fudge the data and need a compliance plan, in place, to avoid their LOs and managers from fudging the data. This $1.75 million civil penalty occurred by way of settlement In the Matter of Freedom Mortgage Corporation case.

The Freedom Mortgage Corporation case concerned LOs fudging information required by HMDA and Regulation C where such LOs selected non-Hispanic white when consumers refused to provide their race, ethnicity, and sex.

Interestingly, a compliance plan would have avoided this civil penalty because the applicable regulation permits lenders to report that the applicant did not provide the information and the loan can close. Had there been a compliance plan in place, Freedom Mortgage Corporation would have $1.75 million more today. In fact, CFPB ordered the lender to "develop, implement, and maintain policies, procedures, and internal controls to ensure compliance with data collection, recording, and reporting requirements set forth in HMDA and Regulation C." Additionally, trainings were required by CFPB.

Lenders - you need a compliance company to create policies and train your LOs before you get hit with a case by CFPB.

Ever need to modify the pipes in your condo unit only to be denied access by your downstairs neighbor?

Those where the facts in the case of Marina Vornon and George Argiris v. Board of Managers of the Newswalk Condominium, et al. where the court granted such access.

This is the first time that a right to a construction license was granted in the condominium setting pursuant to RPAPL 881.

Moving forward, if you have a problem with your neighbor while performing condo construction, know that you have rights of access and if you can't negotiate those rights, a court can grant them to you in the form of a license.

Boards - take notice - knowing the law can avoid costly lawsuits.

Everywhere that I go these days, I see attorney's signs that say that they specialize in this or that. It's on their website, on their shingle, Linkedin - you name it.

Just so consumers know - attorneys' ethical rules state:

A lawyer or law firm may publicly identify one or more areas of law in which the lawyer or the law firm practices, or may state that the practice of the lawyer or law firm is limited to one or more areas of law, provided that the lawyer or law firm shall not state that the lawyer or law firm is a specialist or specializes in a particular field of law, except as provided in Rule 7.4(c).

If your attorney is getting hired by breaking the law, do you think you have a good lawyer?

Just saying...

Employers in the home health care industry can breathe a sigh of relief as New York State’s Highest Court ruled that home health care aids do not have to be paid for their entire 24-hour shift, so long as certain conditions are met. Read the full article by Mordy Yankovich, Esq. published in The Suffolk Lawyer Here 

On 5/31/19 the NYS Board of Real Estate continued its mission of optimizing the regulation of real estate brokers in our state by holding its meeting in NYC, Rochester and Albany. To remind real estate brokers and salespersons, the public is welcome at these meetings where the public can bring comments from the floor. It's encouraged that Lieb School students attend these meetings to have your voices heard. 

"[T]he Board has general authority to promulgate rules and regulations affecting real estate brokers and salespersons in order to administer and effectuate the purposes of Article 12-A of the Real Property Law."

A complete video of the meeting is available here.

In summary, the following was discussed:

1. Complaints: From 1/1/19 to 4/30/19, the Department of State received 241 complaints about licensees. For perspective, there are 134,964 licensees in New York State.
2. Testing: In 2018, of the 27,209 individuals who sat for the salesperson exam, 14,172 passed, which is roughly a 52% pass rate; of the 2,215 individuals who sat for the brokers exam, 1,447 passed, which is a 55% pass rate.
3. Regulations: The Board is considered updating advertising regulations as to web based advertising where lead generation will be specifically addressed. Additionally, corporate titles was raised as a concern and a committee was assigned to study the issue. The simple solution stated was increased enforcement. 
4. Discrimination: Lawful source of income was discussed and the Department, while working with the Division of Human Rights, is hopefully going to issue guidance. 

According to the NYS Division of Human Rights, in legislative testimony provided earlier this month, sexual harassment complaints made to the Division have increased 62% since 2016.

Plus, this gigantic increase in complaints occurred before every employee in the State received training as to their rights when either being a victim of sexual harassment or being retaliated against for attempting to stop harassment.

Remember - every employer must train their employees before October 9, 2019 per Labor Law 201-g.

Failure to train is a misdemeanor and will be the kiss of death when trying to defend the company against a complaint of sex discrimination.

Everything employers need to know about firing an ugly employee.