While 2018 ushered in some important changes at the federal level in labor and employment law such as:
- The Fair Labor Standards Act is amended to address tipped employees and tip ownership
- The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act which impacts certain deductions and reporting provisions
- Regulatory interpretations from the NLRB which reversed course from its previous decisions
It saw its strongest “advocate” in the passing of new laws from the local and state arena. What will be some of the continuing trends for 2019?
We believe employers should continue to prepare for the following trends:
- As marijuana use, both recreational and medicinal, become more widely accepted at state and local levels, look for more court’s and administrative interpretations with respect to zero tolerance drug policies
- Required sexual harassment training
- Increase in mandatory paid and unpaid time off including sick leave, military leave, and family leave
- Restrictions on salary history questions
- Cybersecurity requirements for the protection of employee data and employer procedures for dealing with breaches
Additionally, employers should keep their eye on minimum wage increases (both state and local) during 2019, “ban the box”, predictive scheduling and [at the federal level] the continued NLRB’s “reverse course” in the previous administration’s decisions as well as potential immigration policies.
Guest author: Pautsch, Spognardi & Baiocchi Legal Group (www.psb-attorneys.com)