Photo of Arielle E. Kobetz

Arielle E. Kobetz is an associate in the Labor & Employment Law Department and a member of the Employment Counseling & Training Group. Her practice focuses on providing clients with strategies and counseling related to a variety of workplace-related disputes, including employee terminations and discipline, leave and accommodation requests, and general employee relations matters. She also counsels clients on developing, implementing and enforcing personnel policies and procedures and reviewing and revising employee handbooks under federal, state and local law.

Prior to joining Proskauer, Arielle served as a law clerk at the New York City Human Resources Administration, Employment Law Unit, where she worked on a variety of employment discrimination and internal employee disciplinary issues.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has announced that the City’s private employee COVID-19 vaccine mandate will be lifted effective November 1, 2022.

As we previously reported, the NYC mandate requires all private workers in New York City who perform in-person work or interact with the public to show proof they have received at

On July 19, 2022, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul announced the launch of the state’s confidential hotline for complaints of workplace sexual harassment.

As we previously reported, S812A (enacted in March 2022) establishes a toll-free confidential hotline, administered by the New York State Department of Human Rights (NYSDHR), “to provide individuals with complaints

***UPDATE: Governor Hochul signed the bill into law on November 21, 2022.  It takes effect on February 19, 2023.***

The New York State legislature recently passed a bill (Senate Bill S1958A) that, if and when enacted into law, would amend the New York Labor Law to clarify that employers who maintain “no fault”

The Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Insurance has announced that the Massachusetts COVID-19 Emergency Paid Sick Leave (“MEPSL”) will expire on March 15, 2022, and employers have until April 29, 2022 to file their applications for reimbursements. This means employees may continue to take leave under the program through March 15th, but employers then

***UPDATE: beginning February 15, 2022, indoor venues will no longer be required to verify that patrons are vaccinated (though businesses may choose to keep vaccination requirements in place). Additional information is available here.***

Starting January 15, 2022, DC will require the following establishments to verify that their guests, visitors and consumers ages 12 and