What We're Watching | Business Owner Action Steps & Polyamory Protections
What We're Watching, a weekly summary from the team at Boss Consulting HR, to highlight the ever-moving parts that is Human Resources.
Federal Updates
Are Overtime Rules Changing? This One is for the Salaried Employees.
Last week a bill was reintroduced to Congress. One that would grant overtime pay to about 40% more of the workforce than is currently eligible.
Right now the cap for salaried workers to receive overtime wages sits around $35k/year. The proposed bill would increase that number to about $83k/year (by 2027).
For those in support of the bill, the argument is simple. The Department of Labor doesn’t currently have the scope to address the oftentimes exploitative practices of employers. Those who require long working hours of salaried employees with no overtime compensation.
The Fair Labor Standards Act should support employees and protect them against unfair practices even if they’re well-paid.
A ruling earlier this year concerning daily rate employees set a standard for overtime pay changes. This bill seeks to expand them even further.
Why it Matters → If this bill were to pass, it would mark big changes for employers.
A large portion of your salaried employees would be granted overtime privileges. Which affects your payroll, total compensation, as well as many other factors.
We’ll be watching this one closely and keeping you up to date on all new developments!
To learn more about the February ruling surrounding daily pay rates and highly compensated employees, click here.
New FCRA Notice Means an Action Step for our Small Business Owners
We’ve got a “To Do” for you today.
As you know, there are rules to comply with when you’re doing worker background checks or responding to info you received in said background checks. Some of those legal requirements have gotten an update.
Last month, the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) updated their Summary of Rights Notice. This notice should already be a part of your background check screening process. Now the update needs to be included as well.
Why it matters → While the updates are pretty minimal, your compliance is still required. Those changes include updated contact info for federal agencies so you’re gonna want to have the new notice on hand.
The rule takes effect later this month on April 19th. But there’s a bit of a grace period. Mandatory compliance on the updates doesn’t take effect until next March, 2024.
Today’s action step: Make sure you’re using this newest version of the notice. Review it to ensure you’re up to date on all the changes.
Massachusetts Updates
In a National First, Somerville has a New Protected Category
Massachusetts is making the news this week for big firsts in employee protections.
JD SUPRA reports that Somerville is “the first U.S. jurisdiction to grant legal protections to employees in polyamorous and other consensually non-monogamous relationships.”
What does that mean?
It means that the city of Summerville now provides employment discrimination protections for those in polyamorous relationships. And it becomes the first to “recognize a brand-new protected category”.
Why it Matters → Workplace discrimination is a major concern for many in consensually non-monogamous relationships. Because of how simple this legislation is, it sets the tone for other cities and states to follow suit. Opening up more legal protections for those in multi-partner relationships.
If you’re an employer in Somerville, MA this new legislation applies to you now. Take a look at your anti-discrimination policies and make amendments where necessary to include this new protected category.