McCarthy Falling Short 3 Times in Speaker Vote. Analysis With Attorney Andrew Lieb, Legal Political Commentator on LiveNOW From Fox.
Thursday, January 05, 2023
Tuesday, January 03, 2023
George Santos Campaign Finance Issues & Lies. Legal Political Analysis with Attorney Andrew Lieb on PIX 11
As part of funding the federal government on December 29, 2022, by way of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, President Biden signed a new employment discrimination law that will be effective on June 27, 2023, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
This new anti-discrimination law requires US employers to provide reasonable accommodations to address their employee's limitations related to "pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions," except if such accommodations would constitute an "undue hardship on the operations of the business" of the employer.
If employers had any doubt, they should immediately and proactively adjust their policy manuals and spell-out how covered employee(s) can request to engage in the "interactive process" where such employee(s) can help to identity reasonable accommodations that would allow them to otherwise perform their essential functions of their job.
Make no mistake, the new law makes clear that employers cannot require covered employees to take leave, even paid leave, if a reasonable accommodation is otherwise available.
Moving forward, pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions no longer need to constitute a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act for an accommodation to be statutorily required to be made available to employees throughout the United States.
Thursday, December 29, 2022
- New Groups Protected from Discrimination in NYS: Anti-Discrimination on Citizenship / Immigration Status protected in NYS as of December 23, 2022, and Status as a Victims of Domestic Violence protected in NYS as of May 13, 2022.
- New Notice About Source of Income Discrimination Provided in NYS by Administrators: Public housing agencies (i.e., section 8 administrators) must provide recipients of Notice of Rights from Source of Income Discrimination as of August 17, 2022 (the form reminds us on its face that “cannot say they do not accept housing vouchers or that they do not participate in a program such as Section 8.”)
- Internet Enforcement is in NYS: DOS launched the Internet Enforcement Unit on June 1, 2022, which focuses on websites complying with law, including the existence of the Fair Housing Statement, compliance with Standard Operating Procedure Rules, and compliance with Advertising Regulations (19 NYCRR 175.25) with a specific emphasis on the use of unlicensed aliases rather than licensed names in such advertisements.
- New Notice About Disability Discrimination Rights to be Provided by NYS Real Estate Licensees: Real estate licensees (brokers / salespersons) must provide Notice Disclosing Tenants’ Rights to Reasonable Accommodations for Persons with Disabilities at the first point of substantive contact and with a link to the law on the homepage of every website as of May 18, 2022.
- Implementation of Standard Operating Procedures Required in NYS: Standard Operating Procedures need to be adopted by brokerage firms and made publicly available on all licensees' websites and mobile device applications while also being available, on request, to the public at office locations, as of March 18, 2022.
Wednesday, December 28, 2022
NY AG To Review Issues Raised About George Santos. Legal Political Analysis with Attorney Andrew Lieb on Spectrum 1 NY.
Attorney Andrew Lieb appeared on Fox 5 NY discussing FTX Bankman-Fried charged with "epic" fraud and released on $250 bond.
On June 21, 2023, all residential leases in NYS need to be updated to provide notice of the flood risk and flood history of the rental as well as what flood insurance is available to renters.
S5472A has created Real Property Law 231-b to create a right to know for renters when it comes to floods.
Now, in addition to providing the history of flood damage at the premises and whether the rental is in a FEMA floodplain, special flood hazard area, or a moderate risk flood hazard area, landlords must include the following notice in all of their leases:
FLOOD INSURANCE IS AVAILABLE TO RENTERS THROUGH THE FEDERALEMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY'S (FEMA'S) NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE PROGRAM (NFIP) TO COVER YOUR PERSONAL PROPERTY AND CONTENTS IN THE EVENT OF A FLOOD. A STANDARD RENTER'S INSURANCE POLICY DOES NOT TYPICALLY COVER FLOOD DAMAGE. YOU ARE ENCOURAGED TO EXAMINE YOUR POLICY TO DETERMINE WHETHER YOU ARE COVERED.
Citizenship Status and Immigration Status are now protected classes throughout the State of New York when it comes to discrimination in housing, public accommodations (commercial real estate), education, and employment.
Effective December 23, 2022, A6328A has amended the New York State Human Rights Law to protect a new group of New Yorkers, those who are subjected to different terms, conditions, and privileges based on their citizenship status and immigration status. It protects against discriminatory publications (i.e., advertising / statements). It protects from hostile environments. It is all encompassing to stop discrimination.
According to the law, Citizenship or Immigration Status is defined to mean "the citizenship of any person or the immigration status of any person who is not a citizen of the United States."
Employers, landlords, and educational administrators may have a gut pushback to this law and wonder about issues it may cause for them if they are required to verify legal status as part of their business. Have no fear, the law permits verification and consequential adverse actions "where required by law." However, that does not mean that you can check status whenever you feel like it or believe the law requires it. Instead, it is incumbent upon any person who plans to verify status to first identify the legal basis for why status is required to be verified before doing anything. Otherwise, employers, landlords, and educational administrators should expect to be defending a lawsuit that can easily result in damages over six-figures.
Thursday, December 22, 2022
On December 21, 2022, the State caught up with New York City by passing a statewide mandatory compensation disclosure act, S9427A, which will be effective on September 17, 2023.
The new law, Labor Law 194-b, requires that all employers and agencies only advertise a job, promotion, or transfer if they also provide the compensation or compensation range together with a job description.
While no job description is required if it does not exist, be warned that the law applies even if only a part of the job is to be performed in New York.
Yet, that's all we know... FOR NOW.
However, there will be more because the Department of Labor is charged with promulgating additional rules and regulations. So, stay tuned.
Hopefully, these rules will include a notice before violation provision where an employer can cure before being penalized like the City's version.
The penalties are big - they are $1,000 for the first violation, $2,000 for the second, and $3,000 for subsequent violations. Nonetheless, the real risk is that it's conceivable that a court could find that one mistake could result in thousands of violations based on the number of positions available, applicants, and varying web aggregators that reproduce the job post.
That is all setting aside a company's real exposure.
Now, employees are going to know if they have claims under the Equal Pay Act or if they've been otherwise discriminated in the terms of their employment. This is big!
Wednesday, December 21, 2022
Attorney Andrew Lieb joined LiveNOW from FOX to break-down the referrals from the Jan 6 Committee to the DOJ and why he thinks that the country is now ready for a criminal trial against Trump.
