Gov. Tim Walz has signed or is expected to sign the Minnesota legislature’s Jobs and Economic Development and Labor Omnibus Budget Bill, bringing broad change to the Minnesota employment law landscape. Notably, the new law bans post-employment noncompete agreements in Minnesota, creates state-wide paid sick and safe time leave, prohibits restrictive franchise agreements, modifies wage disclosure protection law, provides additional protections for pregnant and nursing workers, prevents mandatory employer-sponsored meetings, and creates additional paystub requirements for construction workers, among other things. Gov. Walz signed the paid family and medical leave law, creating a new paid family and medical leave program funded by employer and employee payroll taxes and providing up to 12 weeks of paid leave in a single benefit year for an employee’s own serious health condition and up to 12 weeks of paid leave in a single benefit year for bonding, safety leave or family care, with a cap of no more than 20 weeks of total combined leave in any single benefit year. The Minnesota legislature also ended its 2023 session after passing a recreational cannabis law, amending the state’s drug and alcohol testing laws following the legalization of recreational marijuana, which is anticipated to be signed into law by Gov. Walz this week.
Category: Gender and Pay Equity
California Pay Data Reports Due May 10, 2023
On May 10, 2023, employers must submit their pay data reports to the California Civil Rights Department (CRD). As previously reported here, Senate Bill 1162 amended Labor Code section 432.3 and Government Code section 12999 as part of California’s ongoing efforts to promote workplace pay transparency as a means to combat pay discrimination. Employers are required to comply annually with the obligation to not only report data for their W-2 employees, but also the new obligation to compile and report data for workers supplied by their labor contractors that are either working at, or assigned to, California locations.
Which employers must report?
Private employers with 100 or more employees (with at least one employee based in California) must file a “Payroll Employee Report.” New in 2023, all private employers with 100 or more workers hired through labor contractors in the prior calendar year (with at least one worker based in California) must file a “Labor Contactor Employee Report.”
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Illinois Department of Labor Publishes Final Rules Regarding Illinois Equal Pay Registration Certificates
The Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) recently published its final rules regarding Illinois Equal Pay Registration Certificates (EPRC). The final rules largely adopt the proposed rules issued last June, which was discussed here in a prior post. However, the rules include a few notable changes.
Gov. Phil Murphy Signs the New Jersey Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights
Despite strong opposition from New Jersey business groups, on February 6, 2023, Gov. Phil Murphy signed the Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights into law (A1474/S511). This new law places significant burdens upon “temporary help service firms” and their clients. The law requires that temporary workers be paid “not less than the same average rate of pay and equivalent benefits as a permanent employee of a third-party client performing the same or substantially similar work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort or responsibility, which are performed under the same working conditions.” This “equal-pay-equal-benefit” provision, besides potentially increasing costs, will prove challenging for employers to calculate the cost of equivalent benefits.
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Updated Guidance Released for SB 1162 – California’s New 2023 Pay Data Reporting Requirement for Workers Provided by Third Parties
The California Civil Rights Department (CRD) released amended FAQs providing guidance on compliance with the new pay data reporting requirements. PDR FAQs – 2022 Reporting Year | CRD (ca.gov) As previously reported here and here, Senate Bill 1162 amended Labor Code section 432.3 and Government Code section 12999 as part of California’s ongoing efforts to promote workplace pay transparency as a means to combat pay discrimination. Companies need to act now to be prepared to comply with the obligation to not only report data for their W-2 employees, but also the new obligation to compile and report data for workers supplied by staffing agencies and other third parties that are either working at, or assigned to, any California locations. This blog discusses the CRD guidance regarding this significant new development, together with takeaways for compliance.
What is the New Deadline to Submit Pay Data Reports under Senate Bill 1162?
The reporting deadline has been pushed back from March 31 to May 10, 2023. The FAQs have a link to the online portal and templates that employers can use to create their reports. Additional resources will continue to come online for employers.
Employers, It’s Happening! New York State Enacts Pay Transparency Law
On December 21, 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul signed Senate Bill S9427A (the NY Law), which requires covered employers to include salary or wage range—and the job description—in job postings. The NY Law will go into effect on September 17, 2023. New York joins a growing trend of wage transparency efforts by a number of states, counties and cities as a way to close the wage gap for women and workers of color. With New York, approximately 20 percent of the American population will live or work in a state requiring pay transparency.
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