Coming three years after their decision to ban the box, the District of Columbia has approved another anti-discrimination measure intended to increase employment opportunities for those in need of a second chance. On February 15, 2017, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser signed the Fair Credit in Employment Act prohibiting employers from discriminating against applicants and employees Read more
Nationwide, “ban the box” laws are being adopted with increasing frequency. Broadly speaking, these laws prohibit employers from considering an applicant’s or employee’s criminal history in making employment decisions until a certain point in the hiring or deliberation process. Currently, 25 states, the District of Columbia, and many metropolitan areas have adopted ban-the-box type laws. Read more
On February 13, 2017, Ordinance 70459 took effect in the city of St. Louis. The new law prohibits discrimination based on a person’s reproductive health decisions or pregnancy. Reproductive health decision is defined as “any decision related to the use or intended use of a particular drug, device, or medical service related to reproductive health, Read more
The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries is hoping all employers will give its two new free phone apps a try: the Good Observation, Near-Miss and Accident Reporting App and the SafeMe App. We took them for a spin and give them both two-thumbs up! Good Observation, Near-Miss and Accident Reporting App The Good Read more
Retailers, rejoice: the North Dakota House of Representatives has passed a bill repealing the state’s “blue law” prohibiting businesses from operating on Sunday mornings. North Dakota’s Sunday Closing Law makes it a class B misdemeanor to “conduct business or labor for profit” or to “operate a place of business open to the public” on Sundays Read more
On October 21, 2016, Global Cash Card, Inc., a payroll debit card servicing company, filed a petition with the New York State Industrial Board of Appeals (IBA) for review of regulations related to methods of payment of wages. The IBA is an independent review agency that reviews the validity and reasonableness of certain rules, regulations Read more
The ADEA & Disparate Impact The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) prohibits employment discrimination against persons over the age of forty. One way an employee can demonstrate age discrimination is by showing that a specific employer policy or practice has a “disparate impact” on members of the protected class. For example, a particular hiring Read more
As we reported last week, citizens of Arizona city Flagstaff will get the chance in 2018 to decide whether to eliminate the “escalator” clause mandating that the municipal minimum wage remain $2.00 above state levels. It turns out, however, that the state minimum wage will undergo examination even sooner—and not by voters, but by the Read more
States across the nation continue the sick leave momentum. Each year, more states and municipalities are requiring employers to provide employees with sick leave time. Michigan might be the latest state to pass such legislation. Since 2014, several Michigan proponents have tried to generate enough signatures to send a paid sick time proposal to the Read more
Rounding Practices Frequently, employers’ timekeeping practices include “rounding policies” and “grace periods”. These policies permit employees’ clock-in time to be adjusted around start and stopping work times for administrative purposes. If an employer has a quarter-hour “rounding policy,” employee time is rounded to the nearest quarter hour. Therefore, an employee who clocks in at 8:07 Read more
