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Here are today’s HR and workplace news headlines from Workology Go Podcast. I’m Jessica Miller-Merrell. The Workology Go Podcast is sponsored by HSA Bank.
Ep 37- How to Keep Track of New Minimum Wage Requirement Changes
We are busier than ever. We’re juggling family and personal commitments not to mention the growing information and resources that are at our fingertips. It’s easy to be overwhelmed and so hard to keep up. That is also true when it comes to HR compliance changes, updates, and other important employment law changes.
These types of changes are important, however, they are not my favorite things. I love planning, strategizing, and using technology to support my clients. Compliance while not sexy it a foundational part of our roles as HR and workplace leaders. We are the gatekeepers of this type of information.
One of my favorite tools is ComplyRight’s Minimum Wage Legislation Monitor available on PosterTracker.com. It is our featured resource today. I’ll include a link to ComplyRight’s monitor on the transcript of this podcast.
Did you know that in 2019 alone, there will be 25 different state minimum wage changes? This doesn’t even include cities and municipalities, where changes are just as brisk. My head is spinning just thinking about it.
Fortunately, Ashley Kaplan, Esq., the Senior Employment Law Attorney with ComplyRight, is all too familiar with this matter. ComplyRight is a provider of HR compliance solutions including Poster Guard® Compliance Protection, the leading labor law posting solution for U.S. employers. Here she shares more on how to keep up with the plethora of minimum wage changes, as well as the added responsibility of displaying related workplace postings.
In recent years, we’ve seen a distinct and measurable trend with minimum wages. In the absence of any movement on the federal level where the rate has remained at seven twenty five an hour since 2009, lots of states, cities and counties are coming forward with their own requirements. In fact, twenty nine states plus Washington, D.C., and about 70 cities and counties have increased their minimum wage rates above the federal level. And about half of the states now have minimum wage rates close to or above ten dollars an hour. And right now, there are hundreds of pending laws on the state and local level that will impact minimum wage rates in the remaining months of 2019 and 2020 and beyond. Some even have staggered increases planned for the next several years. And if that wasn’t complicated enough, there’s the matter of varying rates. Basically, states have authority to pass laws that are more generous to employees than under federal law. And cities and counties have authority to pass laws even more generous than under state law. This means in a lot of jurisdictions there are conflicting rates with the federal minimum wage at seven twenty five, a higher rate. Under state law and another rate potentially even higher under local law when the laws conflict like this, whether it’s with minimum wages or any other employee. Right. You as the employer, have to provide the protections most beneficial to your employees. So that means in the case of minimum wages, that would be the highest minimum wage rate that applies to them.
And by the way, almost every state, city and county with their own higher minimum wage rates require employers to post that information in the workplace where it’s accessible to all employees. Unfortunately, even if the federal, state and local minimum wage rates are different on the posters, you have to post all of the versions. I know this can be confusing to your employees, but the law does require that. So even though you’re following the law that is most beneficial to your employees, you have to post all of the varying notices under federal, state and local law. It’s safe to say that minimum wage increases and the postings associated with them are having a significant impact on businesses today. In fact, when it comes to the mandatory labor law postings, these wage increases account for the largest portion of the state and local mandatory postings that employers have to manage when the minimum wage rates change. Just like all the other employment laws that change, the corresponding posters have to be updated as well. And new laws are issued throughout the year, not just in January. So it’s important to keep on top of them to stay in compliance. As Jessica mentioned, the comply rate minimum wage monitor can help you by indicating the latest changes and rates down to the state and the city county level. It’s a great free resource. And from there, we can help you ensure that you obtain the necessary multi level postings as well.
For those of us that are serving employee groups in different cities and states, these kind of resources are a welcome way to keep us humming along and multi-tasking in our workplace roles. I’m a fan of leaving the expert to give a helping hand giving me the brain space and time to put out fires in other areas of the business.
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And that’s this episode of the Workology Go Podcast sponsored by HSA Bank. We’re your go to for HR and workplace news. To learn more about the Workology Go Podcast, subscribe to us on Apple, Google, and Stitcher. Our podcast is also available on Alexa and Google Home. Learn more at workology.com/gopodcast and access this episodes resources, links and reports for more information.
Featured Story
The Changing Dynamics of Minimum Wage Legislation
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