Jeffrey H. Ruzal, Member of the Firm in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice, in the firm’s New York office, was quoted in PCA Plus, in “HR in 2019 and Beyond,” by Jackie Carpenter.

Following is an excerpt:

The #MeToo and #TimesUp movements have dramatically impacted the law. In 2018, twenty-nine states and the U.S. Congress introduced new sexual harassment bills. In a recent webinar for club executives, Jeffrey Ruzal, partner with a national labor and employment law firm Epstein Becker Green, said these unprecedented changes will have a significant impact on private clubs. Most of the law changes focus on the following areas:

1) Law and legislative proposals prohibiting mandatory arbitration of sexual harassment disputes and waivers of employees’ rights and remedies. “This means issues will be litigated in a public forum with less discretion,” Ruzal said.

2) Law and legislative proposals banning nondisclosure agreements (NDA’s) in sexual harassment settlements and in other contexts. “These changes demonstrate a move toward full transparency where legal disputes and settlements in this area of the law will not be able to be swept under the rug,” he explained.

3) Requiring employers to adopt detailed sexual harassment policies and/or comprehensive training programs. “The law is really addressing the requirements for training about anti-sexual harassment cultures,” Ruzal said. “Failure to properly educate the work force, supervisors and management can fall back on the employer.”

“Try to maintain a more rigid policy and create an environment of anti-sexual harassment training. Prevention is always a best practice whether or not you are required by law to do so,” Ruzal advised. “Make sure there are relatively frequent reviews or training with management and employees to understand how sexual harassment can occur, what to look for and how to deal with it if it arises in the workplace.”

Industries

Jump to Page

Privacy Preference Center

When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. Because we respect your right to privacy, you can choose not to allow some types of cookies. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. However, blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information.

Performance Cookies

These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.