In an extremely positive, long overdue development, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently proposed amendments to its procedural rules to increase the effectiveness of its conciliation process after the federal agency finds reasonable cause on an administrative charge of discrimination.

On October 19, 2020, the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled in Johns v. Suzuki Motor of America, Inc. that a jury can apportion fault to a plaintiff in strict products liability cases.

On September 9, 2020, Chief Judge of the State of New York Janet DiFiore began a week-long jury trial pilot program across the state. According to Judge DiFiore, it was expected that jury trials would commence in New York City by mid to late-October, with jury summonses already going out to prospective jurors in the City. As of the writing of this alert, we are pleased to inform you that it appears jury trials are now being conducted throughout New York City and the Greater Metro Area.

On April 3, 2020, New York State enacted a new paid sick leave law as part of a comprehensive budget bill. As this newly-enacted law did not replace or diminish city or county paid sick leave laws, it presented certain compliance challenges for New York employers with employees located in New York City or Westchester County, which have their own paid safe and sick leave provisions. To address some of these compliance issues, New York City recently passed amendments to the Earned Safe and Sick Time Act.

Recently, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1159 (SB 1159) and Assembly Bill 685 (AB 685), which introduce new measures to address COVID-19 in the workplace, including the creation of a rebuttable presumption of a workplace injury and new notice requirements for employers in the event of a potential COVID-19 exposure. 

The 2001 Patriot Act imposed rigorous customer identification program rules on financial institutions that were designed to prevent terrorist financing and money laundering. In September 2018, federal banking regulators created an exemption from these rules to facilitate premium finance lending for commercial customers. On October 5, 2020, regulators issued an Order expanding this exemption to include loans extended by banks and their subsidiaries to all customers to facilitate purchases of property and casualty insurance policies.

California Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed legislation that greatly expands the scope and application of the California Family Rights Act (CFRA). This legislation goes into effect on January 1, 2021, so employers should prepare now to comply with the new requirements.

On September 1, 2020, New Jersey adopted a brand-new rule of procedure, Rule 4:25-8, which properly defines motions in limine. On its face, the new rule prohibits, broadly, filing motions in limine that may have a dispositive effect on the case. Most notably, the rule expressly eliminates the ability to move, on motion in limine, to bar expert testimony in matters in which such experts are required to sustain a party’s burden of proof.