Employers should review their existing exempt workers’ salaries and identify whether any increases may need to be made to comply with the rule’s increases. They should also, though, keep an eye on any challenges that are filed, and be prepared to adjust and adapt as needed.
To view the full alert, visit the Faegre Drinker website.
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.
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.
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.”
Continue reading “California Pay Data Reports Due May 10, 2023”
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.
Continue reading “Gov. Phil Murphy Signs the New Jersey Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights”
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.
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.
On January 26, 2023, the Michigan Court of Appeals reversed the Michigan Court of Claims and held the “adopt-and-amend” strategy the Michigan Legislature used in 2019 to enact minimum wage and paid sick time laws was not unconstitutional. According to the Michigan Court of Appeals, the Michigan Legislature may amend a voter-initiated law just as it may amend any other law. As a result, for the time being, employers may comply with the MPMLA and do not need to start complying with the ESTA effective February 20, 2023, unless a further appeal is filed, and the Michigan Supreme Court reverses the Michigan Court of Appeals or the Michigan Legislature passes new laws similar to the voter-initiated laws.