Please note the list below is not intended to be comprehensive. Our team is constantly monitoring for updates that may impact organizations across the country.
In this edition of State of Compliance, your monthly guide to the world of employment legislation, we look at changes at the federal level and across five states and Puerto Rico.
This month’s updates include federal clarification on subminimum wages, child labor regulations, guidelines on tipped employees, emergency leave and penalties for failure to pay employees.
Federal HR compliance updates
California
Hawaii
New Jersey
New York
Puerto Rico
Rhode Island
Federal HR compliance updates
The U.S. Department of Labor updated and released new fact sheets regarding the Subminimum Wages under Rehabilitation Act Section 511.
These include:
- Fact Sheet #39H provides general information regarding Section 511 of the Rehabilitation Act.
- Fact Sheet #39H(a) provides info on the prior requirements for workers using the subminimum wage who are younger than 24 years old.
- Fact Sheet #39H(b) offers details on the requirements for career counseling, information and referrals.
California
Effective Aug. 13, Los Angeles is establishing a $25/hour minimum wage for health care workers under Ordinance #187566. This ordinance defines health care workers as employees working in covered health care facilities that include, but are not limited to the following:
- clinicians
- aides
- professional or non-professional nurses and certified nursing assistants
- technicians
- security guards
- maintenance workers, groundskeepers, janitorial or housekeeping staff
- food service and laundry workers
- pharmacists
- nonmanagerial administrative or clerical workers
- but not managers or supervisors
San Francisco voters approved Proposition G, Public Health Emergency Leave. Beginning Oct. 1, private employers with more than 100 employees will be required to provide paid public health emergency leave to employees in San Francisco when an employee or family member tests positive for or is diagnosed with an infectious disease.
You can read the full text of the proposition here.
Hawaii
Senate Bill 2298 increases the penalty for employers who fail to pay employee wages in accordance with state wage and compensation laws to a class-C felony with a minimum penalty of $500 per violation.
New Jersey
Effective June 1, 2023, Assembly Bill 4222 expands working hours for minors and establishes a centralized database for minors and employers to register them for work. Included provisions expand summer working hours for minors and ensure they receive a 30-minute lunch break for each six hours of continuous work.
New York
Certain wage-deduction labor law provisions in New York’s Chapter Law 451 will be extended until Nov. 6, 2024, under Assembly Bill 10181 Chapter Law 451 added provisions like passes for gyms, parking or mass transit and vending machine expenses to the list of permissible wage deductions. This is the fourth time New York has extended the expiration of this 2012 law.
Puerto Rico
Law 41-2022 amends Puerto Rico’s pay, leave and work-hour laws effective July 20.
Rhode Island
House Bill 7510 clarifies tips are the sole property of a tipped worker and gives guidance on tip pooling and employer responsibilities surrounding collection of, deductions from and disbursement of tips.
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.