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Laura Fant is a special employment law counsel in the Labor & Employment Law Department and co-administrative leader of the Counseling, Training & Pay Equity Practice Group. Her practice is dedicated to providing clients with practical solutions to common (and uncommon) employment concerns, with a focus on legal compliance, risk management and mitigation strategies, and workplace culture considerations.

Laura regularly counsels clients across numerous industries on a wide variety of employment matters involving recruitment and hiring, employee leave and reasonable accommodation issues, performance management, and termination of employment . She also advises on preparing, implementing and enforcing employment and separation agreements, employee handbooks and company policies, as well as provides training on topics including discrimination and harassment in the workplace. Laura is a frequent contributor to Proskauer’s Law and the Workplace blog and The Proskauer Brief podcast.

To align with the new statewide paid prenatal leave law, the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection has amended its rules related to the NYC Earned Safe and Sick Time Act (“ESSTA”) to address the paid prenatal leave requirement. The amended rules take effect on July 2, 2025.

As a reminder, effective January

On May 1, 2025, Minneapolis, Minnesota’s city council passed several amendments to its civil rights ordinance (the “Ordinance”), which prohibits discriminatory practices in employment, among other areas. With regard to employment, the amendments add new protected classes, expand the definition of race, familial status, and disability, and increase protections for pregnant workers and religious observance.

On May 9, 2025, Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law numerous provisions under the FY26 New York State Budget that, among other things, increase the civil penalties for employers that violate state child labor laws and modify existing permitting and reporting requirements for employers and minor employees.  Other changes include eliminating the coverage exemption for

New York City employers are reminded that they are now required to physically and electronically post a copy of their written lactation accommodation policy.

As we previously reported,  Local Law 109 – which became effective on May 8, 2025 – amends the New York City Human Rights Law’s existing obligations on employers to implement and