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GovDocs' Ten Year Anniversary

Celebrating a decade of simplifying labor law!

In celebration of our tenth anniversary we compiled a top ten list of Labor Law Milestones over the past year and a top three list of upcoming labor law issues.

Top ten labor law changes of the past year:

  1. Federal FMLA change: Clearly the biggest change on this list, affecting the vast majority of U.S. businesses. The new FMLA law makes more Americans eligible for leave. Effective 1/16/09.
  2. New Jersey Paid Leave Law: New Jersey isn't the first state to offer paid leave but they did take it one step further by extending paid leave to 6 weeks. Effective 1/1/09.
  3. New York Correction Law Article 23: The correction law prevents discrimination against convicted criminals in employment situations. Other states may be watching to see how well this works in New York. Effective 2/1/09.
  4. Federal EEO Poster: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reemphasized an employee's right to religious accommodation. Effective 7/22/08.
  5. South Carolina Illegal Immigration Reform Act: Requires employers to verify employee's legal status before hiring. A hot-button issue for much of the country. Effective 7/1/09.
  6. Colorado Anti-Discrimination: Colorado added sexual orientation as a protected class on their anti-discrimination poster. This is a change other states may consider when addressing similar legislation. Effective 5/1/08.
  7. Maryland Minimum Wage: Maryland's minimum wage change is a great example of state legislatures taking action to raise wages when they deem it necessary versus on a set schedule (see #10). Effective 7/24/08.
  8. Maine Family Medical Leave: Maine expanded their family medical leave to include siblings. This grants medical leave rights to a previous exempt group. Effective 6/30/08.
  9. Pennsylvania No Smoking Poster: Pennsylvania joins the growing list of states with workplace-related no smoking laws. Effective 9/11/08.
  10. Florida Minimum Wage: Florida's minimum wage change is an example of an indexed minimum wage. Florida is one of many states that change their minimum wage yearly, based on inflation. Effective 1/1/09.

Check out other recent labor law changes that didn't make this list.

Top three future labor law changes

  1. Federal Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA): GINA was signed into law last year by President Bush and ensures that employers cannot discriminate against applicants based on genetic information. There will likely be a federal poster change later this year to inform employees about this law.
  2. Federal Notification Of Employee Rights Under Federal Labor Laws: This executive order was signed in January of this year. The order requires the creation of a new document that will be required to be posted by all nonexempt Federal Contractors.
  3. State No Smoking Laws: This has been a trend for the last few years and we expect more states to add laws that restrict smoking in the workplace. Many of these laws will require postings to communicate the law to employees. Recent law changes have happened in Nebraska (effective 06/01/09)and South Dakota (effective 07/01/09).