Personnel Concepts provides timely state regulatory activity and essential employment law information to its customers. To offer a complete scope of employer responsibilities, we track labor law developments from all 50 states. Below is a list of findings from this week’s state legislation research sweep. Most importantly, as necessary information becomes available, Personnel Concepts will continue to provide updates to affected small businesses.
Alabama
Effective July 1st, 2021, Alabama House Bill 408 will go into effect. This bill standardizes the employee vs. independent contractor assessment test. Signed on April 19th, 2021, the legislation requires employers and state agencies to follow specified requirements to determine whether a worker is an employee for purposes of benefits and tax liabilities.
California
Signed on April 16th, 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom approved Senate Bill 93, creating new requirements for employers of workers displaced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Until December 31st, 2024, employers must offer their laid-off employees specified information about job positions that become available if they are qualified. Employers then must offer those jobs to laid-off employees based on a preference system under specified timelines and procedures. The bill also defines the term “laid-off employee” to mean any employee who the employer employed for six months or more in the 12 months preceding January 1st, 2020, and whose most recent separation from active service was due to a reason related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
New Mexico
New Mexico became the sixteenth state to require paid sick leave when on April 7th, 2021, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the New Mexico Healthy Workplaces Act into law. The bill required covered employers to provide eligible employees with paid sick leave and the use of 64 hours of leave per year. The law goes into effect on July 1st, 2022.
Virginia
Effective May 1st, 2021, Virginia’s minimum wage increased to $9.50 per hour. The increase was initially set to take effect on January 1st, 2021; however, Governor Ralph Northam acted to delay the effective date allowing employers an additional four months to recover from the financial implication of the pandemic.
The minimum wage for future years will increase as follows:
- $9.50 beginning May 1st, 2021
- $11.00 on January 1st, 2022
- $12.00 on January 1st, 2023
- $13.50 on January 1st, 2025*
- $15.00 on January 1st, 2026*
*contingent on the General Assembly’s enactment by July 1st, 2024