Compliance Stuff

As employers keep their eye on compliance, below are some notable employment law changes that will be effective in the coming months. Arkansas   Effective August 4, 2025 -  Senate Bill 598  (S.B. 598) requires an employer or agency charged with determining the employment status of an individual to use the method proscribed under the Internal Revenue Service Code, as it existed on Jan. 1, 2025 , in making its determination . Employers and agencies charged with determining the employment status of an individual can no longer use or rely on state law to make this determination.    California Effective January 1, 2026,  Senate Bill 648  (S.B. 648) permits California's labor commissioner to investigate employers and issue citations for tip theft. The legislation subjects employers to investigation if they take or withhold any portion of an employee's tips, including failure to pay tips in timely manner (by the next regular payday). Employers found gui...

  States and cities are as busy as ever passing new workplace regulations throughout the calendar year. Here is our mid-year report summarizing the notable labor and employment laws that take effect from roughly July through October.  Arkansas Bill / Ordinance / Regulation Main Topic Summary Effective Date Arkansas HB 1643   Background Checks Authorizes an employer to disclose substantiated allegations of sexual abuse or harassment by a current or former employee to a prospective employer upon written consent from the current or former employee. 8/4/2025 Arkansas SB 139 Healthcare Noncompete Agreements Provides that a noncompete agreement that restricts the right of a physician to practice within the physician’s scope of practice is unenforceable. 8/4/2025 Arkansas HB 1854 Home Caregiver Training Exempts home caregivers from home caregiver training if they provide documentation of having previously completed the training. 8/4/2025 Arkansas SB 279   Unpaid Wages Provi...

Noncompete provisions continue to be governed by a constantly changing patchwork of state level legislation. In general, recent laws tend to limit their use among low wage earners or individuals in certain professions, such as health care workers or veterinarians. In July, amendments to such laws will go into effect in Virginia, Arkansas, and a newly issued statute will go into effect in Wyoming. A summary of each follow. Virginia Effective Date:  July 1. Statute:   SB 1218 . Existing Law:  Pursuant to  § 40.1-28.7:8  of the Virginia Code, low wage employees in Virginia may not be bound by noncompete agreements. Prior to SB 1218, low wage employees included any employee with average weekly earnings that are less than the average weekly wage of the Commonwealth. Key Changes: The new law expands the definition of “low wage workers” who cannot be bound by noncompete agreements to include all employees entitled to overtime pay for working more than 40 hours a w...

On March 4, 2025, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed into law Senate Bill 139, now Act 232 (the “Act”), which amends the state’s non-compete statute to provide that non-compete covenants that “restrict the right of a physician to practice within the physician’s scope of practice” are void. The term “physician” includes any person authorized or licensed to practice medicine under the Arkansas Medical Practice Act and any person licensed to practice osteopathy under Arkansas law . The Act will take effect 90 days after adjournment of the current legislative session, likely resulting in a mid-July 2025 effective date . Arkansas’s Existing Non-Compete Statute Arkansas Code Section 4-75-101, entitled “Covenant not to compete agreements,” provides statutory factors for determining the enforceability of non-compete agreements signed after July 22, 2015 (the statute’s initial effective date).  A non-compete agreement is enforceable where it is ancillary to an employment relat...

 State Attorney General follows through on threat.  Last summer, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. President & Fellows of Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina, thirteen “red state” Attorneys General warned the nation’s Fortune 100 companies that they should stop “reverse” discriminating against individuals on the basis of race or face the consequences. In their letter, the state AGs stated, “Sadly, racial discrimination in employment and contracting is all too common among Fortune 100 companies and other large businesses. In an inversion of the odious discriminatory practices of the distant past, t oday’s major companies adopt explicitly race-based initiatives which are similarly illegal . These discriminatory practices include, among other things, explicit racial quotas and preferences in hiring, recruiting, retention, promotion, and advancement. . . .  The warning letter c onclud...