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On January 30, 2024, the New Jersey Supreme Court affirmed a jury decision finding that the State of New Jersey was liable for $10 million in punitive damages due to its discrimination against and failure to accommodate a female corrections officer (CO) working for the state’s Juvenile Justice Center (JJC).

Amazon will pay $950,000 to settle a case involving California remote workers and their home internet expenses. A remote worker sued Amazon in the federal District for the Northern District of California. The worker alleged that Amazon failed to reimburse its California employees for home internet expenses when they worked remotely between March 2020 and July 2022, allegedly violating various California labor codes.

On January 10, 2024, a panel of the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) upheld an administrative law judge’s opinion putting two fired employees back to work, ruling that the employer’s asserted basis for their termination violated Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”), which protects employees’ right to join, form, and assist Union, engage in collective bargaining, and engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection.

On January 2, 2024, the Court of Appeals in California upheld the finding and a $23.9 million dollar damages award that Andrew Rudnicki, an in-house attorney for Farmers Insurance Exchange and Farmers Group, Inc. (Farmers), was illegally terminated in retaliation for opposing gender discrimination.

On January 3, 2024, the United States Court of Federal Claims ruled in favor of Customs Officers seeking overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) and the Customs Officer Pay Reform Act (“COPRA”) for their time spent traveling across the country while working as part of the CBP’s “Special Response Team.”

As a new year began on January 1, 2024, the federal minimum wage remained $7.25 per hour. However, new state minimum wage laws took effect around the country, including in the following states (the increases are effective on January 1, 2024 except where noted otherwise): 

Two laws protecting marijuana users will come into effect in California in the new year. The first, AB 2188, prohibits employers from taking any adverse action against employees who have used marijuana off-the-job and away from the workplace, or who test positive for the presence of marijuana in their system in a way that indicates they have recently used marijuana, but were not under the influence at the time of the test.

On December 12, 2023, a California jury agreed that Kaiser Permanente fired neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurse Maria Gatchalian in retaliation for raising concerns regarding patient health and safety and awarded her approximately $41.5 million in damages.

Starting on January 1, 2024, Maryland’s minimum wage will increase to $15.00 per hour for all employees. This increased the minimum wage by $1. This increase to the minimum wage marks the end of a gradual increase to Maryland’s minimum wage over the past few years.

The Washington, D.C. – based human rights non-profit, Freedom Now, announces its new Executive Director – Andrea J. Prasow.