Attorney Comments on Bill Proposed New York City Giving Workers the Right to Ignore After-Hours Emails

New York Co-Managing Partner Michael Marra is quoted in the Washington Post article "A New York City Official Wants to Give Workers the Right to Ignore After-Hours Emails." This article discusses the questions raised by the recent bill proposed in New York. The bill makes it unlawful for private employers to require all hourly and salary workers to check and respond to email and text messages during non-work hours, except in emergencies.

“Not to suggest these are the most forlorn employees, but does it apply to investment firm associates? To law firm associates?" said Michael. "If this was to pass exactly as written, you could have policies that say, 'If you're exempt from overtime, our expectation is you’re on 24/7.' There’s nothing illegal about that, but I guess it would not be a great recruiting tool."

"What defines an emergency?" he asked. "We’ve all had bosses where someone else’s emergency didn’t seem like an emergency to us. I understand some of the sentiment behind a bill like this, but it strikes me that's really in the eye of the beholder."

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