As we approach the next presidential election in 2008 the US is facing huge challenges in the area of employment and labor laws. Over the last 20 years the Federal Government has been slow to keep up with the needs of the American Workforce. Minimum wage was finally increased in 2007 after a 10 year standstill, FMLA and the ADA are finally being reviewed in 2008 after their passage over 20 years ago, and the century old Fair Labor Standards Act had its first major update in 2004.
Although the federal government has finally begun to update these laws, states and cities that grew tired of waiting for change have started passing their own legislation in many areas including paid leave, sick time, sexual orientation, and parental benefits. This has created a patchwork of laws that share no common pattern and vary from place to place. To ensure workforce readiness, employers should begin to cultivate a pro-active approach to creating human resource policies as new employment laws are enacted.
Here are a few areas where employers should expect changes:
FMLA and ADA
The Federal Government has offered FMLA proposed resolutions that are currently open for comment before they are enacted. Some of these proposed rules favor employers and clarify areas of previous confusion like medical documentation and employee notice requirements. However, many clearly serve to make FMLA more accessible to the workforce. One provision would allow employees to count their previous service with a company towards the eligibility requirement (12 months or 1,250 hours) as long as the break in service does not exceed 5 years. In addition, Barack Obama has pledged to expand FMLA’s reach to an additional 13 million workers through proposed revisions should he be elected into office. These changes will require employers to re-write and revise their leave policies.
In addition to the proposed revisions to FMLA, the ADA Restoration Act is currently on it's way to the Senate after being passed in the House. The bill was proposed as a way to overturn Supreme Court decisions that Congress feels have narrowed the scope of the ADA too much. As a result of these revisions people with mental or physical disabilities would no longer be required to show that the disability is “substantially limiting of a major life activity”. This change would allow many more people with medical conditions to claim coverage under the ADA and ask for reasonable accommodations in the workplace. This Act is set to be effective January 2009.
Paid Sick Time
Under current FSLA guidelines states are not required to pay employees sick and vacation days. Over the years companies have recognized that the benefit of time off to their workforce outweighs the costs and have gladly created paid time. However, despite these efforts some have felt there is a need for more regulation. One example is the Federal Healthy Families Act which is being reviewed in House Committees. This Act would grant all employees 7 paid sick days per year. In addition, there are some states and cities that have grown tired of waiting for federal action, and have started to legislate sick pay requirements for employers.
The first law of this type was the San Francisco Sick Time Ordinance which was passed in Feb. 5, 2007. This law states that all employees working within the city limits regardless of employer size or full or part time status would be eligible to earn 1 hour of sick pay for every 30 hours worked with a maximum of 72 hours per year.
Although San Francisco was just one city this trend seems to be spreading. On February 14th The Safe and Sick Leave Act of 2008 was passed in Washington D.C. This law will require employers in D.C. to offer a set number of sick pay days to all employees depending on how many "full time equivalent employees" they have. This law is set to go into effect November 13, 2008. Finally, 12 other states including Maine and Massachusetts currently have bills set for review this year that all mandate varying amounts of sick time for employees. Ohio has already put their proposed 7 day Sick Pay Act on the ballot for the November election.
EEOC and the Department of Labor
The EEOC received a record number of complaints in 2003 but then experienced a rapid decline for the next few years. The most recent numbers for 2007 show that the number of complaints being filled has gone up again and exceeded those 2003 numbers with the biggest jump in harassment and religious based charges of discrimination.
In addition to increased EEOC activity, the DOL reported that back wage collections exceeded the record levels collected in fiscal year 2003 by 3.8 percent and back wages for overtime violations represented roughly 90% of all FSLA back wages collected. In the area of Child Labor Violations a total of 4,672 minors found illegally employed. The majority of these violations occurred when workers under the age of 16 worked too many hours, too late at night, or too early in the morning.
Other Unique Laws on the Horizon:
• Lactation Laws – Effective July 1, 2008 Indiana has passed a law stating that all employers with over 25 employees must provide a place “other then a bathroom stall” for employees to express breast milk. Washington D.C. has passed a similar law but it is waiting to be signed by the mayor.
• Sexual Orientation/ Gender-Identity Laws – In California gender identity disorder can be considered a disability under the ADA and therefore require reasonable accommodations.
• Parental Leave Laws – Georgia is evaluating 24 hours of unpaid leave for parents to use for school conferences for their children.
As you can see it should be a busy few years to come! With the 2008 election looming, I feel that the movement towards more "employee friendly" legislation will show no signs of stopping regardless of which party gets into the White House. Human Resource Professionals should prepare now to pro-actively create Human Resources policies and procedures as new employment laws are passed to ensure compliance within their organizations.
No comments:
Post a Comment