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Regulatory Roundup for June 2021: Your Guide to the Latest Changes

June brought a fresh round of work-related compliance updates at the federal level and in states across the country. You’ll find many of those updates below.

Federal changes

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) made inflation-based adjustments to civil penalties for violation of the notice-posting requirements in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. Learn more in the final rule.

Legislative updates by state

California
Colorado
Connecticut
Hawaii
Illinois
Kansas
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Montana
Nevada
New Jersey
New York
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Virginia

California

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors enacted an ordinance to provide employees of private employers with up to four hours’ paid leave for COVID-19 vaccinations. The measure is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2021, and effective through Aug. 31.

Santa Clara County issued an order under which employers must obtain employees’ COVID-19 vaccination status, promptly report positive test results and continue enforcing mask use.

Colorado

House Bill 1108 amends statutory protections against gender-based discrimination to include “gender expression” and “gender identity.”

Connecticut

House Bill 6380 requires disclosure of salary ranges for vacant positions and equal pay for comparable work.

Senate Bill 908 protects public employees’ rights to join or support unions.

Hawaii

House Bill 125 establishes uniform laws to protect the online privacy of current and prospective employees, unpaid interns, applicants, students and protected students from employers and educational institutions.

Illinois

Chicago’s Chi Biz Strong Initiative establishes penalties for wage theft by employers, raises the minimum wage for care workers and chain business workers and expands the eligible uses of paid sick leave under the existing city ordinance.

Kansas

Senate Bill 47 provides that for employees temporarily teleworking in a state other than their primary work location, employers may continue to withhold income taxes based on the employee’s primary work location. The measure applies to tax years between Dec. 31, 2020, and Jan. 1, 2026.

Louisiana

House Bill 554 designates Juneteenth as a state holiday.

Maine

Legislative Document 61 allows a grandparent to request employee family medical leave in order to care for a grandchild with a serious health condition.

Legislative Document 1106 prohibits an employer from charging an employee fees for direct deposit of wages.

Maryland

House Bill 56 requires employers to provide employees with paid bereavement leave.

House Bill 73 encourages private employers to develop and implement telework policies to enable employees to work at locations other than traditional office settings.

House Bill 581 strengthens protections for employees of essential employers, including the right to refuse to perform certain tasks and to use public health emergency leave.

House Bill 685 prohibits an employer from including a tip credit as part of the wage of workers covered under the Secure Maryland Wage Act or preventing those employees from retaining all tips received. The law also establishes a new minimum wage for certain employees working at “a heightened security interest location.”

Massachusetts

House Bill 3702 provides employees with new emergency paid sick leave for reasons relating to COVID-19, including obtaining a vaccination or recovering from symptoms arising from a vaccination. The bill also creates a $75 million fund to reimburse employers for providing employees with this paid sick leave.

Montana

Senate Bill 190 allows employers to create a tip pool for employees involved in providing customer service or food preparation.

Nevada

Assembly Bill 190 requires a private employer that provides employees with sick leave to allow an employee to use accrued sick leave for an absence due to illness, injury, medical appointment or other authorized medical need of a member of the employee’s immediate family.

Senate Bill 107 makes changes relating to the statute of limitations for certain causes of action, including wrongful termination.

Senate Bill 245 amends the definition of “wages” in existing law to include amounts owed to a discharged employee or an employee who resigns but isn’t paid by the statutory deadlines. This enables employees covered under the new language to file claims with the labor commissioner.

Senate Bill 293 prohibits an employer or employment agency from seeking or relying on the wage or salary history of a job applicant and from discriminating against applicants who decline to provide their wage or salary history.

Senate Bill 327 prohibits discrimination on the basis of traits associated with racial or ethnic groups, including hair texture and hairstyles.

Senate Bill 386 requires employers to provide laid-off employees with written notice containing information about the layoff and the employee’s rights to re-employment.

New Jersey

Senate Bill 989 requires certain airport and train station workers to be paid certain wages and benefits.

New York

Senate Bill 1034B mandates extensive new workplace health and safety precautions to prevent the spread of not just COVID-19, but all airborne infectious diseases.

Oklahoma

Senate Bill 905 creates a $20 income tax credit to be claimed by an employer for each verified blood donation made by an employee as a part of a nonprofit-organized blood drive.

Oregon

House Bill 2474 adds closure of a child care provider or school due to a public health emergency as a reason to take leave, reduces the amount of time an employee has to work before becoming eligible for leave and allows employees to choose the order in which they take accrued leave.

Effective Jan. 1, 2022, Senate Bill 493 provides that the prevailing wage for a trade or occupation in a locality is to be set by a collective bargaining agreement for that trade or occupation.

Senate Bill 569 prohibits employers from requiring current or prospective employees to possess a valid driver’s license as a condition of employment.

Senate Bill 716 requires employers to reasonably accommodate employees’ work-schedule availability in relation to child care.

Pennsylvania

The mayor of Philadelphia signed a law requiring businesses with 10 or more employees to provide paid sick leave for absences related to physical or mental illness, preventive medical or family care, domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. Employees accrue a minimum of one hour of sick time for every 40 hours worked, up to 40 hours per year.

Rhode Island

House Bill 5130 incrementally increases the minimum wage from $11.50 per hour to $15 per hour over four years.

Virginia

Effective July 1, House Bill 2063 creates a new overtime obligation with limited exemptions, defines how to calculate the regular rate, creates a default three-year statute of limitations and mandates double damages for violations.

Please continue to follow the Paycom blog for updates that matter to you and your organization.

 

DISCLAIMER: The information provided herein does not constitute the provision of legal advice, tax advice, accounting services or professional consulting of any kind. The information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional legal, tax, accounting or other professional advisers. Before making any decision or taking any action, you should consult a professional adviser who has been provided with all pertinent facts relevant to your particular situation and for your particular state(s) of operation.