July 2019 Employment Law and Regulations Update

Welcome back to the Reflexis Employment Law and Regulations Update! In this month’s article, we’ve included notable changes in United States regulations from July 2019 onward.

As I’ve mentioned, this list of new laws and regulations is not exhaustive, nor is it intended as legal advice. Reflexis strongly recommends you consult with your legal counsel regarding any substantive employment law and regulation changes that may affect your organization.

 

Effective July 1, 2019

Illinois

Employers with 100-499 employees who do not currently provide a qualified savings plan to their employees and who do not offer a private market savings vehicle must enroll their employees into Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program, including making appropriate paycheck deductions.

New Jersey

7-day waiting period before receiving NJ Family Leave Insurance (NJFLI) benefits is eliminated. Employer’s option to require employee to use 2 weeks of accrued PTO before being eligible for NJFLI benefits is eliminated, but an employee may opt to use accrued PTO before using NJFLI benefits without reducing the employee’s benefit entitlement.

Washington DC

0.62% of covered employees’ total wages for Q1 2019 must be remitted.

Employers of tipped employees must have a written policy specifying the procedure to report sexual harassment and must file the report with the Office of Human Rights. The report must include the number of sexual harassment incidents report to the employer and must provide a breakdown of whether the alleged harasser was a managerial employees, non-managerial employee, owner or operator of the employer. (Tipped Wage Workers Fairness Amendment Act of 2018). Reporting must occur by July 1, 2019 and annually thereafter.

Virginia

Exemptions to minimum wage requirements eliminated for newsboys, shoe-shine boys, babysitters who work 10 hours or more per week, ushers, doormen, concession attendants, and cashiers in theaters.

 

Effective July 10, 2019

New York – Westchester County

Covered employees start to accrue earned sick leave time under Earned Sick Leave Law at a rate of 1 hour for every 30 hours worked.

 

Effective July 27, 2019

Kentucky

Employers with 15 or more employees for 20 or more weeks in a year must provide written notice of rights to reasonable accommodations to employees with limitations due to pregnancy, childbirth or a related medical condition.

 

Effective July 28, 2019

Washington

Employers with 15 or more employees must provide reasonable accommodations to an employee for pregnancy, unless the employer can demonstrate that doing so would cause an undue hardship to the employer’s program, enterprise or business.  Reasonable accommodations include, but are not limited to: (i) providing more frequent, longer, or flexible restroom breaks; (ii) modifying a no food or drink policy; (iii) job restructuring, part-time or modified work schedules, reassignment to a vacant position, or acquiring or modifying eequipment, devices, or an employee’s work station; (iv) providing seating or allowing the employee to sit more frequently if her job requires her to stand; (v) providing for a temporary transfer to a less strenuous or4less hazardous position; (vi) providing assistance with manual labor and limits on lifting; (vii) scheduling flexibility for prenatal visits; and (viii) providing reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for two years after the child’s birth each time the employee has need to express the milk and providing a private location, other than a bathroom, if such a location exists at the place of business or worksite, which may be used by the employee to express breast milk. If the business location does not have a space for the employee to express milk, the employer shall work with the employee to identify a convenient location and work schedule to accommodate their needs.

 

 

Effective July 31, 2019

Washington

Employers are required to submit quarterly reports for purposed of Paid Family & Medical Leave for Q1 and Q2 of 2019.

 

Effective August 1, 2019

Texas – Dallas

As yet unnumbered City Ordinance requires employers with more than 5 employees to provide earned paid sick leave to employees who work more 80 hours or more in the City of Dallas, TX, accrued at a rate of 1 hour for every 30 hours worked, with an annual cap of 64 hours (for employers with more than 15 employees), or 48 hours (for employers with 15 or fewer employees). Earned paid sick leave accrues from an employee’s first day of employment, but employers may prohibit use of earned paid sick leave until after 60 days of employment have been completed.

Texas – San Antonio

Ordinance requires employers with more than 5 employees to provide earned paid sick leave to employees who work more 80 hours or more in the City of San Antonio, TX (including through a temp agency), accrued at a rate of 1 hour for every 30 hours worked, with an annual cap of 64 hours (for employers with more than 15 employees), or 48 hours (for employers with 15 or fewer employees). Earned paid sick leave accrues from an employee’s first day of employment, but employers may prohibit use of earned paid sick leave until after 60 days of employment have been completed.

 

Effective August 10, 2019

Arkansas

An employer who fires an employee must pay all wages due by the next regular payday. If an employer fails to make payment within seven days of the next regular payday, then the employer will automatically owe the employee double the wages that are due.

 

Effective September 6, 2019

Nebraska

Nebraska Fair Employment Practices Act amended to prohibit discrimination against employees for communicating about their wages, benefits or other compensation.

 

Effective September 17, 2019

Maine

Employer may establish a valid tip-pooling arrangement as long as it only includes service employees and does not violate the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

 

Effective October 1, 2019

Massachusetts

Employer’s must start collecting the contribution rate of 0.63% on the first $128,400 of an individual’s annual earnings. Regulations and additional clarification should be coming in March 2019.

 

Effective October 30, 2019

New York – Westchester County

Employees who work in the County on a full-time basis for more than 90 days in a calendar year and are victims of domestic violence or human trafficking are eligible for up to 40 hours of paid leave to attend or testify in criminal or civil court proceedings related to domestic violence or human trafficking or move to a safe location. Employers must provide employees with a copy of the law and written notice of how it applies to them within 90 days of the law’s effective date or at the time of hire, whichever is later.

 

Effective October 31, 2019

Washington

Employers are required to submit quarterly reports for purposes of Paid Family & Medical Leave for Q3 of 2019.

 

Effective November 1, 2019

Tennessee

Unclaimed wage reporting date changed from May 1, 2019.

Washington

Employers are required to submit quarterly reports for purposes of Paid Family & Medical Leave for Q3 of 2019.

 

Effective January 1, 2020

Colorado

Employers who allow employees who are paid less than $80,000 in wages to take paid leave for organ donation are allowed an income tax credit equal to 35% of the employer’s expenses incurred for (a) up to 10 days’ pay to the employee during such leave; and (b) the cost of temporary replacement employees during the employee’s organ donation leave.

Massachusetts

Sunday and holiday premium pay rate decreases to 1.3 times the employee’s regular hourly rate of pay.

Minnesota – Duluth

Earned Sick and Safe Time Ordinance requires employers with 5 or more employees to provide earned paid sick leave, accrued at a rate of 1 hour for every 50 hours worked, with maximum annual accrual of 64 hours and maximum annual use of earned paid sick leave of 40 hours. Earned paid sick leave accrues from an employee’s first day of employment, but employers may prohibit use of earned paid sick leave until after 90 days of employment have been completed.

New York

Paid Family Leave benefits rate increases to 60% of the employee’s average weekly wage, up to the 60% of the NYS average weekly wage.

Oregon

Employers with 6 or more employees are required to provide reasonable accommodations to employees and job applicants who have limitations related to pregnancy, unless doing so would impose an undue hardship. Reasonable accommodation include, but are not limited to: (a) acquisition or modification of equipment or devices; (b) more frequent or longer break periods or periodic rest; (c) assistance with manual labor; or modification of work schedules or job assignments. Notices must be provided to existing employees by January 1, 2020 and within 10 days after the employee has informed the employer of a pregnancy; and to new hires, upon hire.

Philadelphia, PA

A retail, hospitality or food service business which employs 250 or more employees and has 30 or more locations worldwide regardless of where those employees perform work, including but not limited to chain establishments or franchises associated with a franchisor or network of franchises that employ more than 250 employees in aggregate must provide its employees with the following:

At the time of hire, a written good faith estimate of the employee’s work schedule, including average no. of weekly work hours in a typical 90 day period, whether any on-call shifts are requires;

On or before the commencement of employment, a written work schedule that runs through the last date of the currently posted schedule.

Opportunity to make requests and changes to proposed work schedule at or before the commencement of employment.

Posted notice of the employees’ work schedules, 10 days ahead of the first day of the applicable work schedule (increases to 14 days’ advance notice effective January 1, 2020).

Posted notice of any changes to the work schedule as promptly as possible and prior to the change taking effect.

Pay half-pay for any decrease in work hours resulting from a change made more than 24 hours after the deadline for providing notice of the work schedule; and one hour of pay for any increase or neutral change made more than 24 hours after the deadline for providing notice of the work schedule.

9 hours break between shifts, which the employee can voluntarily waive, in which case, the employees must be paid $40 for each shift for which the employee waives the rest period.

Offer work shifts to existing employees, before offering to new employees or using a staffing agency.

Post available shifts for existing employees for at least 72 hours.

Rhode Island

Paid sick leave total annual accrual increases to 40 hours per year, from 32 hours per year.

Washington

Eligible employees must have access to paid family and medical leave benefits either through WA Paid Family & Medical Leave (or through an employer-funded program). Benefits include up to 12 weeks per year of leave if the employee:

• Welcomes a child into their family.
• Experiences a serious illness or injury.
• Needs to care for a seriously ill or injured relative.
• Needs time to prepare for a family member’s pre- and post- deployment activities, as well as time for childcare issues related to a family member’s military deployment.

 

If the employee faces multiple events in a year, then the employee may be eligible to receive up to 16 weeks of paid leave.  If the employee faces a serious health condition during pregnancy that results in incapacity, then the employee may be eligible to receive up to 18 weeks of paid leave.

Washington – Seattle

Employers with 20 or more employees worldwide are requires to offer employees who work at least 10 hours per week a pretax payroll deduction based on the allowable amount set by the Internal Revenue Services, for transit options other than a single occupancy vehicle.

Alternatively, employers may subsidize all or part of a transit pass for eligible employees.  Details regarding the subsidy option are expected later in 2019.

Employers must offer an eligible employee the pre-tax payroll deduction within 60 days of the employee’s employment start date and, if the employee elects it, must provide the deduction within 30 days after election.

Enforcement will not begin until January 1, 2021.

Washington DC

Tipped employee payroll must be prepared by a third party payroll processer.

 

Effective January, 31, 2020

Washington

Employers are required to submit quarterly reports for purposes of Paid Family & Medical Leave for Q4 of 2019. (Future quarterly reporting deadlines will not be included in this summary.)

 

Effective February 29, 2020 (or earlier upon adoption of implementing rules and regulations)

New Jersey

Employers with 20 or more employees must give their employees a pre-tax transportation fringe benefit (except for those employees in a current collective bargaining agreement), which allows employees to deduct commuter highway vehicle and transit benefits, consistent with the provisions and limits of I.R.C. § 132(f)(1) at the maximum benefit levels allowable under federal law, from their gross pay. (SB 1567)

 

To learn more, stay tuned for me – Andrew Ngo, Senior Corporate Counsel – to give my next update in August! Visit www.reflexisinc.com for more information on how Reflexis can help you increase compliance rates and stay on top of new labor laws and regulations.