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The New York State Liquor Authority (the “SLA”) is taking significant steps to cut down on the agency’s sizable licensing backlog. The current estimated processing time of an application is 24-26 weeks, with even temporary permit processing typically taking close to two months. In an effort to cut down on processing times, the SLA in September announced an initiative to simplify the application process. Thomas Donohue, the Deputy Commissioner of Licensing for the Authority [...]

As 2022 is drawing to an end, amidst the holiday parties and merriment, employers may want to consider a New Year's resolution to conduct regular internal reviews of their immigration and visa recordkeeping policies. Here are a few important categories to address:I-9 COMPLIANCEMost U.S. employers are required to complete Form I-9 to document verification of the identity and employment authorization of each new employee. While the form and document requirements appear, on first glance, to be [...]

Over the past week, federal and New York State laws have been enacted to require certain employers to provide paid benefits to employees who cannot work as a result of COVID-19. New York State Law Obligations As of March 18, 2020, New York State’s COVID-19 Quarantine Leave Law (Quarantine Leave Law) requires employers, with limited exceptions, to provide job protection and up to 14 days of paid quarantine benefits to employees who are unable to work because they are subject to a [...]

STATE ISSUESThe Governor of the State of NY has addressed State regulated wetlands in his budget bill proposing to do away with the regulatory freshwater wetlands maps and merely have them in place for educational purposes. This means that like the Army Corps, the State DEC staff will be able to go out in the field and identify areas as wetlands even if they do not show up on a map. Moreover, although to a degree the DEC staff have already begun doing this when reviewing how State mapped [...]

Just after 5:00 PM (EST) on December 6, 2019, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced that it will implement an H-1B registration process for fiscal year 2021 cap-subject petitions. The initial registration period will run from March 1 – March 20, 2020 and upends longstanding government practice for what many have referred to as “H-1B season” from January through early April each year. There are more questions than answers at this writing, but [...]