On May 24, 2023, Governor Tina Kotek signed into law legislation raising the maximum penalties for workplace fatality–related citations in Oregon far above federal limits. The law took effect immediately.
Employers across the country have grappled with the requirements of Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act (EPEWA), since it went into effect on January 1, 2021. The act was the only one of its kind at the time, and has spawned similar legislative efforts around the country, including in California, New York, and Washington. Yet the Centennial State has stood alone in its requirement that employers notify their Colorado employees of “promotional opportunities” available to them, no matter where those opportunities exist in the organization or whether those employees might be qualified for or interested in such jobs.
On June 5, 2023, Substitute Bill No. 913 was enacted as Public Act (PA) No. 23-35, “An Act Expanding Workers’ Compensation Coverage for Post-Traumatic Stress Injuries for All Employees.”
On May 24, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit found the latter. A 3–0 court held that an employer violates the Americans with Disabilities Act when it (a) fails to provide a reasonable accommodation to a qualified employee, and (b) the employee suffers an adverse action because of the failure to accommodate.
On May 24, 2023, Governor Tim Walz signed into law an omnibus jobs and economic development bill that included, among its many workplace-related provisions, the establishment of a statewide paid sick leave program, effective on January 1, 2024.
On June 2, 2023, Governor Jared Polis signed into law Senate Bill (SB) 23-017, which expands the qualifying reasons an employee may take leave under the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act (HFWA).
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently added some small clarity to the murky jurisdictional border between the Mine Safety and Health Administration and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
On May 31, 2023, the California Senate passed Senate Bill (SB) No. 553 by a vote of 29–8. The legislation would establish new workplace violence prevention standards in California.
On May 27, 2023, Governor Greg Abbott signed into law the CROWN Act (House Bill No. 567), making Texas the twenty-first state to ban racial discrimination based on hair texture or hairstyle in schools, employment, and housing.
A putative class action recently filed in Seattle, Washington, against a solar energy equipment company could be the first lawsuit to test the bounds of the state’s relatively new restrictions on noncompetition agreements for lower-wage employees.
On May 24, 2023, Governor Tim Walz signed Senate File No. 3035, which, among other provisions, amends the Packinghouse Workers Bill of Rights (Minn. Stat. § 179.86), creates new meatpacking workplace safety requirements with the Safe Workplaces for Meat and Poultry Processing Workers Act, and limits the use of quotas in the “Warehouse Distribution Worker Safety” law.
On May 24, 2023, Governor Tim Walz signed into law legislation that further expands protections for nursing and pregnant employees in Minnesota. The amendment, included in Senate File 3035, builds on the changes that became effective in January 2022 to Minnesota’s nursing mothers and pregnancy accommodations law (Minn. Stat. § 181.939).
Employers in Washington will soon be prohibited from making hiring decisions based on preemployment testing for off-the-job cannabis use or test results showing nonpsychoactive cannabis metabolites in an applicant’s hair, blood, urine, or other bodily fluids. Washington’s new law, Senate Bill 5123, signed by Governor Jay Inslee on May 9, 2023, takes effect on January 1, 2024.
On May 24, 2023, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed into law a sweeping omnibus jobs and economic development and labor funding bill that will invest $500 million in a fund to match federal investments in infrastructure and large-scale development projects. This bill also fundamentally changes several areas of Minnesota employment law, including instituting a ban on employer-employee noncompete agreements signed after July 1, 2023, establishing new paid sick leave entitlements, providing employees with additional pregnancy and nursing accommodations, and adding new worker safety protections.
In a unanimous opinion, the Supreme Court of California concluded that an employee’s disclosure about suspected violations of the law to the employer or a government agency is protected whistleblowing activity under California’s Labor Code, even when the disclosure relates to information already known by the employer or a government agency.
On May 19, 2023, Governor Tim Walz signed into law House File No. 782, establishing the Minnesota Secure Choice retirement program. Minnesota has now joined California, Colorado, Oregon, Illinois, and other states in creating a state-run retirement savings program for employees working with small employers without their own retirement plans.
The Minnesota Legislature sent a recreational marijuana bill, House File 100, to Governor Tim Walz’s desk for his signature. Subject to various restrictions, the bill, allows individuals twenty-one years old and older to possess and transport various levels of cannabis products, consume cannabis in private/public areas, and grow it. Governor Walz is expected to sign the bill into law.
On May 19, 2023, in Clark v. A&L Home Care and Training Center, LLC., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit rejected the familiar two-step certification procedure in collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), instead requiring lead plaintiffs to demonstrate a “strong likelihood” that other employees they seek to represent are “similarly situated” to the original plaintiffs. In so ruling, the Sixth Circuit became just the second circuit court to expressly reject the familiar two-step certification procedure in FLSA collective actions.
On May 19, 2023, in San Diego, California, the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (OSHSB) received public comment regarding the proposed Indoor Heat Standard. The board took public comment and discussed the regulation on the closing day of the forty-five-day comment period.
Minnesota is set to ban noncompete provisions in employment contracts as part of a new omnibus bill headed to Governor Tim Walz’s desk. The bill will have a significant impact on Minnesota employers by banning true employment noncompete provisions entered into on or after July 1, 2023, but this bill would not apply retroactively to existing noncompete provisions and also would not apply to other common types of provisions used by Minnesota employers to protect trade secrets, to protect confidential information, and to protect against soliciting customers or employees.
On May 17, 2023, the Minnesota state legislature passed an omnibus jobs and economic development and labor funding bill that could have serious implications for employers in the state, including a ban on noncompete clauses, paid sick leave, pregnancy and nursing accommodations, and sweeping worker safety protections. The bill is now on its way to Governor Tim Walz’s desk for his signature. Here are some key provisions of the bill.
The end of the public health emergency (PHE) began the sunsetting of the Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act’s requirement for employers in Colorado to provide PHE leave stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that Colorado employees may use PHE leave through June 8, 2023.
On May 11, 2023, the New York City Council approved a bill to prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of an individual’s height or weight. The bill, Int. No. 209-A, was sent to Mayor Eric Adams for final approval following a 44–5 vote.
In most parts of the country, courts have not considered obesity as a disability unless it is caused by an underlying health condition. In Texas, however, courts have reached a different conclusion, holding that obesity in itself may be a disability in some cases.
On May 4, 2023, Hawaii lawmakers sent a bill to the governor that would require employers to disclose hourly pay rates or salaries in job listings and expand pay discrimination protections—which could make the Aloha State the latest state to enact a pay transparency law.
The state of Texas that has developed a workplace violence prevention standard for healthcare settings. When signed into law, Senate Bill (SB) 240, aimed at reducing acts of workplace violence directed against healthcare providers, will require each health facility to adopt a written workplace violence prevention policy and plan by September 1, 2024.
On May 10, 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law Senate Bill (SB) 1718, immigration-related legislation that will require employers to use the E-Verify system and will impose criminal penalties on individuals transporting undocumented immigrants into Florida.
A recent ruling from a Louisiana appellate court is a reminder that a noncompete agreement that fails to specify the parishes or municipalities a former employer wishes to protect is unenforceable.
The Florida legislature recently passed Senate Bill (SB) 1718 , which, if signed into law, would require both private employers with twenty-five or more employees and public employers in Florida to use the E-Verify system to verify the employment eligibility of new employees starting July 1, 2023.
Senate Bill (SB) 1718 has been approved by both chambers of the Florida Legislature, but section 787.07, which had included criminal penalties for transporting undocumented immigrants, has been modified.
