At the end of a busy legislative session, a new law was enacted imposing a new notice requirement for California employers. The notice requirement applies to California’s existing Domestic Violence Leave Law. Domestic Violence Leave The Domestic Violence Leave Law applies to employers with 25 or more employees. The law prohibits a covered employer from Read more
Minimum Wage Two important announcements regarding federal contractors came from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) in September. First, on September 20, 2016, the DOL published a notice that the minimum wage for employees working on certain government contracts will increase to $10.20 per hour beginning January 1, 2017, pursuant to Executive Order 13658, Establishing Read more
Yesterday, the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) announced that the state’s minimum wage rate will increase 6 cents per hour in 2017. The wage will rise to $9.53 an hour on January 1, 2017. Washington’s 2016 minimum wage is $9.47 per hour. Each year, L&I is required to adjust the state’s minimum Read more
California agricultural workers will soon become the first in the county to receive overtime pay on the same terms as other hourly employees. Like most states, California law requires most hourly employees to be paid time and one-half their regular rate of pay for hours worked in excess of a 8 hours in one workday Read more
Beginning July 1, 2017, workers in the city of Chicago will start accruing paid sick leave time, allowing them meet financial responsibilities and at the same time attend to their own or their family members’ health care needs. A recent amendment to the City’s minimum wage law was enacted giving eligible employees the right to Read more
Mandatory paid sick leave laws continue to expand around the nation. Five states and at least 27 cities and counties now require that employees be allowed to accrue paid sick leave to care for their own illnesses or injuries or for preventive health care. Often, paid sick leave laws also allow an employee to use Read more
Several Canadian provinces will increase their minimum wage rates this fall including Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, and Saskatchewan. The minimum wage rate increases are based on annual changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The CPI is used as an indicator of the change in the cost of living. The minimum wage rate increases taking Read more
Adjustments to Penalties On August 1, 2016, new penalty amounts for violations of Federal OSHA law took effect. OSHA’s maximum penalties, which were last adjusted in 1990, have been adjusted for inflation. The penalties, which include an initial “catch-up” adjustment, have increased 78%. Going forward, OSHA will continue to adjust its penalties for inflation each Read more
Although the Illinois state legislature is presently considering a statewide sick leave bill, currently there is no Illinois state law requiring private employers to provide employees sick leave, paid or unpaid. Today, more than 40% of private sector workers in Illinois cannot earn paid sick time. Of those workers who receive paid health care time, Read more
Turning in employers that violate labor laws just got easier for workers in California. Last week, the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) and the Labor Commissioner’s Office introduced a new online tool, Report a Labor Law Violation, to report the types of employer violations that harm groups of workers and ultimately adversely impact the community. Read more
