Compliance Stuff

  Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PFWA)   Going into effect June 27, 2023, the PFWA requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide reasonable accommodations to current and prospective employees with known limitations stemming from pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.  The protections are designed to fill the gaps between the protections that are already available to pregnant workers through ADA and Title VII of the Civil Rights of 1964.  Here are some examples that the PFWA may require for pregnant employees:   Allowing them to have water or food in the workplace; Reducing their lifting requirements; Providing pregnant workers the ability to sit; Allowing them additional breaks to use the bathroom, eat, and rest; Excusing them from activities that involve exposure to compounds unsafe for pregnancy; and Providing them with appropriately sized uniforms and safety apparel.   DOL Priority Agenda Released   The Department of Labor o...

  On February 29, 2024, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) released new resources to assist veterans and employers understand the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) OF 1974.   The Act prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from engaging in discrimination in employment practices against veterans and requires employers to take action to provide equal opportunity in recruitment, hiring, promoting and retaining protected veterans.   View the updated resources by visiting  VEVRAA .   Source:  govdelivery.com ,  received on February 29, 2024.

  Employers in Columbus, OH will be prohibited from asking job applicants about their salary histories under a city ordinance that takes effect on March 1, 2024   This law applies to employers with 15 or more employees in Columbus, Ohio.   Source:  Ogletree Deakins , reported on February 28, 2024

  South Carolina employers that employ at least one person in the state have for many years been required to file quarterly reports with South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce (SCDEW).  This Act will “improve the effectiveness of the workforce development in South Carolina.  It will also improve the states responsiveness to industry needs by providing workforce information and analysis to decision-makers and the public.”    New this year, however, employers must also include in those quarterly reports the Standard Occupational Codes (SOC) for each position, along with employee names, social security numbers, number of hours worked, and wages.    Employers that employ fewer than 10 individuals in South Carolina have the option of submitting this information electronically or by paper.    Every employer with at least 10 employees must submit this information electronically, unless a “hardship” exception applies. Employers are onl...

The Joint Employer Rule (by the NLRB) was scheduled to go into effect on Monday, February 26, 2024.  A Texas federal judge issued a two-week stay order pushing the effective date until March 11, while the judge considers a lawsuit to permanently block the rule.  In DC, there is another lawsuit challenging the National Labor Relations Board.   Source:  Ogletree Deakins , reported on February 27, 2024v

  The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has announced that the 2023 EEO-1 data collection will open on Tuesday, April 30, 2024---with the deadline to submitting the required data being Tuesday June 2024.   The EEO-1 filing requirements and timeline apply to US Federal contractors with 50 or more employees and US Private Employers subject to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with 100 or more employees.   To date, there is no expectation that the EEOC will collect compensation data during 2024 (as it was collected for 2017 and 2018).   Source:  DCi Consulting , reported on February 26, 2024.

  Federal law provides most of the well-known anti-discrimination laws: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”); the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”); and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”). These laws prohibit employers from discriminating against an employee of the basis of a protected characteristic [race, sex, age, disability, etc.]. While these federal laws offer employee-plaintiffs a right to recover, they generally do not extend liability to individual employees of the corporate employer.   Pennsylvania Human Relations Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, sex, national origin, and disability, similar to Title VII and the ADA, but it extends liability to  individuals.      Section 955(e) of the PHRA prohibit “any person, employer, employment agency, labor organization, or employee to aid, abet, incite, compel, or coerce the doing of any act declared by this section to be an unlawful discriminatory pr...

  Background check companies ("consumer reporting agencies") rely on searching indexes for criminal background checks in California state records and elsewhere. Effective February 23, 2024, Los Angeles County will no longer include even a partial date of birth (i.e. the month and year of birth) as criteria in its criminal name search engines. With that said, companies can expect both delays or “unperformable search” results, unless there is legislation to overcome the Court of appeal's opinion.   Source:  Littler , reported on February 23, 2024

  The Compliance Department reported this back in  January .     Inclusion in the pay data report depends on where your staff may live and/or report to work:   If employees/labor contractors telework outside of California but are assigned to a California establishment, they are to be included in the pay data report 1 ;   If employees/labor contractors telework from California and are assigned to an out-of-state establishment, they should be included in the report;   Employees/labor contractors assigned to a California establishment and who work at client sites out of state should be reported;   Employees/labor contractors who live in California but physically work at an establishment outside of CA  do not  need to be included in the report.   1  This includes all employees who work remotely and are not assigned to other locations, and thus are assigned by default to the company’s California HQ. In addition, if the remote w...

  When employers enact a Non disparagement provision or policy or provide severance benefits in exchange for the employee agreeing to a robust non-disparagement clause. A non-disparagement clause is an agreement that forbids and employee from saying anything negative about the company--in short, it protects the reputation of the company. The current National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel has taken the position that most non-disparagement clauses may run into issues with employees' Section 7 rights.   Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (the Act) guarantees employees "the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection," as well as the right "to refrain from any or all such activities."   It is advised that employers should th...

  The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) was to release consolidated EEO-1 reports of federal contractors on February 20, 2024.     The US District Court for the Northern District of California granted a temporary stay (a ruling by a court to stop or suspend a proceeding temporarily) to consider the argument of the OFCCP, an agency  within  the Department of Labor. The court has provided the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), the plaintiff, until February 23, 2024, to file a response to this motion.   CIR has been after the consolidated EEO-1 reports of federal contractors since January 2019.   The Compliance Department will be on the lookout for new developments and will update accordingly.   Source:  DCi Consulting , reported on February 20, 2024.

  On January 30, 2024, Governor Spencer Cox signed into law HB 261, which prohibits certain DEI “policies, procedures, practices, programs, or initiatives” in government officers and in the Utah public education system.   Introduced that same month was the House Bill, Employment Training Requirement Limitations (HB 111). In addition to amending the state law companion to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,  this bill  would have prohibited employers from requiring, as a term of employment, (which includes hiring, advancement, promotion or demotion), employees or applicants to sign documents or attestations professing belief in specific concepts related to race and or other protected characteristics.   Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals based on their protected characteristics--which means that having that specific employment requirement where an individual sign the document or attestation ...

  Signed into law March of 2020, The Coronavirus Aid Relieve and Economic Security Act was a stimulus bill to assist with the economic issues resulting from COVID-19.     On February 9, 2024, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) issued a circular that reiterates the options for disaster modifications and loan deferment and extends the options available for borrowers affected by COVID-19 through May 31, 2024.  According to the circular, a servicer can provide a VA disaster modification without VA preapproval until May 31 regardless of the borrower's enrollment in a COVID-19 forbearance plan, COVID-19's impact on the default.    The VA is allowing for disaster extend modifications to extend the loan's original maturity date up to 18 months, instead of the standard 12 months, if the loan is modified no later than May 31, 2024.   Regarding requirements and restrictions, the circular will also grant servicers the flexibility to offer loan deferment ...

  Under both Minnesota law and St. Paul Ordinance, employees accrue 1 hour of sick and safe time for every 30 hours worked.  Employees can earn a maximum of 48 hours each year unless the employer agrees to a higher amount.  The ordinance became effective January 1, 2024.   Both laws allow  employees to carry over up to 80 hours  of Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) into the following year.    Both law and ordinance do state that upon separation of employment and the employee is rehired within 180 days of separation by the same employer, previously accrued earned sick and safe time must be reinstated.  If an employee is transferred to a separate division, entity, or location, but remains employed by the same employer, the employee is entitled to all earned sick and safe time accrued at the prior division, entity, or location.   For more information on the ESST for both Minnesota and St. Paul, you may visit the sources below. The Compliance...

  Senate Bill 147 (SB 147) was signed into law May 2023.  This Michigan law amended the states Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA).     The ELCRA prohibits sex-based discrimination to pregnancy, childbirth, or aa medical condition related to pregnancy. The ELCRA does include the exception for “nontherapeutic abortions not intended to save the life of the mother.”  What does this mean?  Employers could legally discriminate against employees who terminate a pregnancy if it was intended to save the life of the mother.   This amendment prohibits companies from treating an employee differently for terminating a pregnancy for any reason.  This amendment will take effect on March 28, 2024.   Source:  GovDocs , received on February 15, 2024.

  Illinois law requires business with 100 or more employees in the State of Illinois to submit an application to obtain an Equal Pay Registration Certificate by providing certain pay, demographic, and other data to the Illinois Department of Labor by March 24, 2024, and to re-certify every two years after the first submission.   Per House Bill 4604 of the 102nd General Assembly, for the purposes of this requirement, "business" means any private employer  who has 100 or more employees in the State of Illinoi s and is required to file an Annual Employer Information Report EEO-1 with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, but does not include the State of Illinois or any political subdivision, municipal corporation, or other governmental unit or agency.   The Compliance Department has concluded that our entities do not have 100 Illinois employees, ergo do not need to submit an application.   The Compliance Department will update should this information c...

  Pending approval by the US Congress, the Wage Transparency Omnibus Amendment Act of 2024 ( D.C. Act 25-367   will take   effect on June 30, 2024 .   Under this act, employers (any non-D.C. governmental or federal government entity that employs at least one person in the district) identify in their job advertisements “the minimum and maximum projected salary or hourly pay.”   The new law does not define salary, the law attempts to provide guidance what salary range means by advising:   In stating the minimum and maximum salary or hourly pay for the position, the range  shall extend from the lowest to the highest salary or hourly pay that the employer in good faith believes at the time of the posting it would pay for the advertised job, promotion, or transfer opportunity.  (Emphasis added.)   Source:  Ogletree Deakins , received on 02.14.2024.   Compliance Calendar has been updated with this information.

  The NLRB's   Division of Advice   issued a memorandum analyzing a company's employment agreement and concluded the following:  non-solicitation, non-disclosure, and return of property clauses were   not  unlawful and that a lawsuit filed to enforce them did not violate the NLRA.     Source(s):  Littler , received on February 14, 2024;  NLRB Recently Released Advice Memos , accessed on February 22, 2024;  Case Number: 07-CA-322063 , accessed on February 22, 2024. 

  The Connecticut Data Privacy Act (CDPA) became effective on July 1, 2023.  The CDPA applies to business that control or process the data of at least 100,000 Connecticut residents per year, or 25,000 residents per year, if more than 25 percent of their gross revenue comes from selling personal data.    The Attorney General (AG) has since release a report which outlines how the state has been enforcing this law.  To date, the AG's office has issued violation notices to business related to the collection and use of the consumer data and provided violators a 60-day cure period (the ability to correct the violation).   At this time, the Compliance Department states this law does not apply to our company or the entities for which they are responsible for.  Should this decision change, we will update via the Compliance Digest.   Source:  JD Supra , received on 02.13.2024.

  After 4 years since it's enaction (2020), the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), the Third District Court restored the California Privacy Rights Protection Agency's("Agency") ability to enforce the new regulations to the CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act).   The CPRA is a consumer privacy law that protects data privacy rights.  It builds on the previous legislation (CCPA) passed in 2018 and expands employer's obligations when it comes to collecting, storing, using and sharing personal data belonging to their employees. The law should be referred to as “CCPA, as amended”.   The CPRA applies to employers with at least 1 employee in California and if the company made over $25mil in the previous calendar year.  If the employer is not in California, but you have one or more employees working remotely in California, the law would only apply to  those  employees.   The CPRA requires employers to inform individuals who reside in California about ...

  Approved by the OMB (Office of Management and Budget) in August 2023, the   New Scheduling Letter   and Itemized Listing provides an increase amount of work!  The “Letter” has increased the amount of data federal contractors must submit with their desk audit submission.  Much of this information that is required now, was only required if the original submission   raised issues   that warranted additional review.   In JD Supra's review of the data, states that Item 22 requires "new detail on the contractors 41 CFR 2.17(b)(3) review of its compensation system.  The regulation does not require that contractors perform a statistical analysis - even though 22(e) is written as if it does.   Federal Contractors may receive the Scheduling Letter and Itemized Listing by e-mail with a read receipt--this promotes timely exchange of information---Contractors that do receive an e-mail will not receive a hard copy of the Scheduling Letter and Itemiz...