In our publish earlier this week, we coated latest developments in state and native labor and employment legal guidelines within the states at the start of the alphabet. We now flip our consideration to developments within the remaining states.
New Jersey
- Short-term Staff’ Invoice of Rights – On February 6, 2023, the Short-term Staff’ Invoice of Rights was signed into regulation by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy. The regulation broadly expands the rights of roughly 127,000 non permanent employees in New Jersey. As of Might 7, 2023, staffing companies should present their non permanent employees with an Task Notification on the time of dispatch to every task. Discover should be offered to non permanent employees in Spanish or in another language typically understood within the locale of the staffing company. If a short lived employee’s schedule, shift or location adjustments on a multi-day task, the staffing company should (if potential) present discover a minimum of 48 hours prematurely of the change. Lastly, non permanent employees who train their rights underneath the regulation at the moment are protected towards retaliation by staffing companies, third-party employers, and any brokers thereof. Extra obligations underneath the regulation (together with recordkeeping, transportation, and extra notification necessities) don’t take impact till August 5, 2023. The New Jersey Division of Labor & Workforce Growth will add data concerning these extra necessities to its web site FAQ “within the coming months.”
New Mexico
- LGBTQ+ Rights Added to New Mexico Human Rights Act – On March 24, 2023, Governor Grisham signed HB 207, extending the scope of the state’s anti-discrimination regulation, often called the New Mexico Human Rights Act, to incorporate protections for LGBTQ people. As amended, the New Mexico Human Rights Act now consists of sexual orientation and gender id as protected classes.
New York
- Pay Transparency Regulation Amended – As we reported in our State Regulation Roundup: 2022 12 months-Finish Version, late final 12 months New York State Governor Kathy Hochul signed the state’s pay transparency invoice into regulation. On March 3, 2023, Governor Hochul permitted amendments to the regulation forward of its scheduled September 17, 2023 efficient date. Most importantly, and in marked distinction with NYC’s pay transparency regulation, the amended NYS regulation will now not apply to any job that “can or will probably be carried out within the State of New York” (i.e., to all distant jobs). As an alternative, NYS’s amended pay transparency regulation will apply to jobs that “will bodily be carried out, at the least partially, within the State of New York.” Nonetheless, protection has been expanded considerably to now embrace jobs that may bodily be carried out outdoors of New York however which “report back to a supervisor, workplace, or different work website in New York.” The modification additionally: (1) removes the requirement that employers preserve and preserve information associated to job descriptions and pay ranges, and (2) provides a statutory definition of “promote,” outlined as “to make out there to a pool of potential candidates for inside or public viewing, together with electronically, a written description of an employment alternative.”
- Mannequin Sexual Harassment Coverage Up to date – On April 11, 2023, Governor Hochul introduced that NYSDOL had finalized updates to its mannequin sexual harassment coverage, together with new coaching, tips for employers and staff, and an interactive video and reply sheet. The up to date supplies can be found on the Division’s web site, right here. Employers might both undertake the mannequin coverage revealed by the NYS Division of Labor (NYSDOL) or undertake their very own coverage that meets or exceeds the minimal requirements contained within the mannequin coverage.
- New York Metropolis Prohibits Discrimination Primarily based Upon Top and/or Weight With passage of Intro. 209-A, efficient November 22, 2023, the Huge Apple will prohibit employers from discriminating towards staff or candidates primarily based upon their peak or weight. There are some exceptions, equivalent to the place consideration of peak and/or weight is required by federal, state or native legal guidelines or laws, or for positions for which peak and/or weight might forestall an individual from performing important necessities of a job and no various is accessible, or the standards is fairly vital for the traditional operation of the enterprise.
- Albany County Prohibits Pay Historical past Inquiries – Albany County joins the lengthy listing of states and localities prohibiting pay historical past inquiries for candidates. Below the Native Regulation “E”, which went into impact on February 13, 2023, employers are prohibited from requiring candidates to offer prior or present wage data earlier than a proposal of employment is made.
North Dakota
- Amendments to Medical Marijuana Regulation – On April 12, 2023, North Dakota Governor signed S.B. 2388 into regulation. The regulation amends Century Code Chapter 19-24.1, the state’s medical marijuana regulation. Below the prior model of the regulation, employers have been permitted to self-discipline staff for possessing or consuming usable marijuana within the office or for working whereas underneath the affect of marijuana. As amended, the regulation now permits employers to self-discipline staff for “working with marijuana within the worker’s system.”
- Amendments to Being pregnant Lodging Regulation – On March 17, 2023, North Dakota amended its being pregnant lodging regulation, which makes it an illegal discriminatory observe for an employer to fail or refuse to accommodate a person “as a result of that particular person is pregnant.” The amendments make clear the definition of the time period “pregnant” to incorporate “being pregnant, childbirth, and associated medical circumstances.”
Ohio
- Revises Crime Sufferer Protections – On January 5, 2023, Ohio Governor DeWine signed into regulation Home Invoice 343, also called Marsy’s Regulation, increasing the employment protections for crime victims, together with prohibiting employers from retaliating towards victims or their members of the family or representatives for attending sure prison or delinquency proceedings. The regulation additionally repealed the supply stating employers aren’t required to pay an worker for time misplaced because of their attendance at such proceedings. The regulation took impact on April 6, 2023.
- Columbus Bans Wage Historical past Inquiries – Add Columbus, Ohio to the ever-growing listing of jurisdictions prohibiting pay historical past inquiries underneath a lately handed ordinance. Efficient March 1, 2024, employers with 15 or extra staff in Columbus will probably be prohibited from: (1) asking in regards to the wage historical past of an applicant; (2) screening candidates primarily based on their present or prior wages, advantages, different compensation, or wage histories; (3) relying solely on an applicant’s wage historical past in deciding whether or not to make an employment supply or in figuring out the wage, advantages, or different compensation for such applicant throughout the hiring course of; and (4) refusing to rent or in any other case disfavor, injure, or retaliating towards an applicant for not disclosing their wage historical past.
Pennsylvania
- Philadelphia Releases Additional Paid Sick Depart Laws – On February 28, 2023, the Philadelphia Division of Labor launched supplemental laws on the Selling Wholesome Households and Workplaces Ordinance, the town’s paid sick depart (PSL) regulation. The PSL regulation covers three forms of depart: (1) accrued sick depart, (2) COVID-19 depart, and (3) health-care epidemic depart emergency. The laws make clear protection and depart entitlements underneath every sort of depart, the needs for which every sort of depart could be taken, and the documentation employers might require for the usage of every sort of depart.
Utah
- Utah Repeals Navy Depart – Utah repealed its navy depart regulation, efficient Might 3, 2023. The now-repealed regulation required all Utah employers to offer as much as 5 years of navy depart to order members of the US armed forces who, pursuant to navy orders, enters energetic responsibility, energetic responsibility for coaching, inactive responsibility coaching, or state energetic responsibility.
Virginia
- Virginia Organ and Bone Marrow Donation Depart – Efficient July 1, 2023, Virginia employers with 50 or extra staff will probably be required to offer unpaid organ donation depart to their staff underneath S.B. 1086. Eligible staff are entitled to as much as 60 enterprise days of unpaid depart in any 12-month interval to function an organ donor, and as much as 30 enterprise days of unpaid depart in any 12-month interval to function a bone marrow donor. Organ donation depart won’t run concurrently with FMLA depart.
Washington
- Prohibits Marijuana-Associated Hiring Discrimination – In 2012, Washington turned one of many first states to legalize leisure marijuana. Contemplating the disconnect this created between employers’ hiring practices and candidates’ authorized marijuana use, the Washington Legislature determined to take additional motion greater than ten years later to forestall employers from proscribing job alternatives primarily based on an applicant’s previous marijuana use. Efficient January 1, 2024, a brand new Washington regulation will make it illegal for an employer to make hiring choices primarily based on (1) an individual’s off the job and away from the office use of marijuana, or (2) an employer-required drug screening take a look at detecting non-psychoactive hashish metabolites in an individual’s hair, blood, urine, or different bodily fluids. The regulation doesn’t have an effect on an employer’s proper to keep up drug and alcohol-free office insurance policies or conduct drug assessments outdoors of the preemployment stage. The regulation doesn’t apply to candidates for sure safety-sensitive positions.
- Bars Employer Automobile Searches – Below S.B. 1491, efficient July 23, 2023, Washington employers are prohibited from looking their staff’ non-public autos, together with within the firm parking zone, with sure exceptions.
- Seattle Mandates Paid Sick Depart for App-Primarily based Staff – On March 29, 2023, Seattle handed an ordinance guaranteeing paid sick depart for app-based gig employees who carry out providers in Seattle for “community corporations,” outlined as any group or entity that makes use of a web-based app or platform to attach prospects with app-based employees. Providers embrace work-related stops in Seattle however doesn’t embrace stopping in Seattle for refueling, private meals or errands, or time spent touring to a vacation spot outdoors Seattle the place no business stops are made in Seattle. Efficient January 13, 2024, eligible app-based employees will accrue in the future of paid depart for each 30 days labored.
- Seattle Bans Caste Discrimination – On February 23, 2023, Seattle Mayor Bruce A. Harrell permitted amendments to the Metropolis’s anti-discrimination ordinance by including “caste” as a protected classification. This makes Seattle the primary and solely jurisdiction nationwide to ban caste-based discrimination. The ordinance went into impact on March 25, 2023.
