Attention Multi-State Employers: Background Checks and Ban-the-Box and Sick Leave Laws, OH MY!

As the federal government hits the brakes on numerous Obama-era employment law regulations, many states are ramping up their own employment law requirements. Some of the new state-specific laws to be aware of:

California
CA Law	CA Topic	Quick Summary	Effective
AB 168	Salary History	Prohibits inquiry into an applicant's salary history or any application question about an applicant's salary requirements. The theory is that such questions result in unequal pay between men and women because men tend to be more aggressive regarding pay sought.	1/1/2018
AB 1008	Criminal Background Checks; FCRA/CA pre-adverse and adverse action letters	Extends statewide ban-the-box law meaning conditional offer of employment must be extended before criminal history inquiry. Further requires California-specific pre-adverse and adverse action letters that are different from your current FCRA forms.	1/1/2018
SB 63	Parental Leave	Expands parental leave law to employers with 20+ employees; must provide employees with 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected parental leave	1/1/2018
SB 396	Harassment training and notice posting	Requires employers with 5 or more employees to post notice regarding transgender rights; requires employers with 50 or more employees to provide harassment training, including gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation training	1/1/2018

Delaware
DE Law	DE Topic	Quick Summary	Effective Date
HS 1	Salary History	Prohibits inquiry into an applicant's salary history or any application question about an applicant's salary requirements or questions to former employers regarding salary.	12/14/2017

Maine
ME Law	ME Topic	Quick Summary	Effective Date
LD 1477	Harassment Training	Employers must develop a sexual harassment training program with all points from state agency compliance checklist.	11/1/2017

Massachusetts
MA Law	MA Topic	Quick Summary	Effective Date
SB 2119	Salary History / Equal Pay / Pay Transparency	Bans unequal pay, prohibits salary history inquiries, and prohibits employers from restricting employees from discussing or sharing wage information.	7/1/2018
SB 3680	Accommodations for Pregnant and Lactating Workers	Requires employers to reasonably accommodate all pregnant women and employees who need to express breast milk.	4/1/2018

Minnesota
MN Law	MN Topic	Quick Summary	Effective Date
St. Paul Sick Time (No. 233)	Sick & Safe Time Leave	Adopts final rules implementing and enforcing the Earned Sick and Safe Time Ordinance. St. Paul joins Arizona, CA (state and local), CT, DC, GA, IL (state and local), LA (state and local), MD (state and local), MN (local only), NJ (local only), NY (local only), OR (state and local), PA (local only), P.R., RI, VT, and WA (state and local) in enacting some form of required Sick Leave, *all of which have specific requirements*.	11/30/2017

Nevada
NV Law	NV Topic	Quick Summary	Effective Date
SB 361	Protected Time Off to victims of Domestic Violence	Employers must provide up to 160 hours per year of leave to employees who are victims of domestic violence, or whose family or household members are victims; employers must reasonably accommodate employees who are victims or have family members who are victims, including schedule modifications or new work phone numbers.	1/1/2018

New York
NY / NYC Law	NY / NYC Topic	Quick Summary	Effective Date
SB 6406, AB A9006C	Paid Family Leave	Eligible employee may take up to 12 weeks of paid family leave annually; administered through mandatory payroll deductions.	1/1/2018
New York City: No. 1253	Salary History	NYC employers are prohibited from inquiring about an applicant's salary history or relying on that history, unless offered voluntarily.	10/31/2017
New York City: No. 1313-A	Protected Time Off: Paid Safe Time	Expands NYC's paid sick leave requirements to cover "safe time," including domestic violence (sexual offenses, stalking)	5/5/2018
NYS DOL Rule (salary threshold changes annually)	Exempt Employee Minimum Salary Thresholds	Effective Dec. 31, 2017: NYC (11+ employees) Salary Threshold - The minimum salary for exemption as an "administrative" or "executive" employee increases from $825 per week ($42,900 annually) to $975 per week ($50,700 annually); NYC (10 or fewer employees) Salary Threshold - The minimum salary for exemption as an "administrative" or "executive" employee increases from $787.50 per week ($40,950 annually) to $900 per week ($46,800); Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester Counties Salary Threshold - The minimum salary for exemption as an "administrative" or "executive" employee increases from $750 per week ($39,000 annually) to $825 per week ($42,900 annually); Other Counties in New York State Salary Threshold - The minimum salary for exemption as an "administrative" or "executive" employee increases from $727.50 per week ($37,830 annually) to $780 per week ($40,560 annually)	12/31/2017

Oregon
OR Law	OR Topic	Quick Summary	Effective Date
SB 299	Paid Sick Leave	Amends the Oregon paid sick leave law re certain definitions, permitting employer to cap accrual, and clarifying method of payment for piece rate and commissioned employees.	1/1/2018
SB 769	Social Security Numbers	Adds new privacy protections for Social Security numbers, including the disposal of material or media with such information.	1/1/2018
SB 828	Predictive Scheduling	Employers with 500+ employees (in retail, hospitality, and food services) must provide new hires with good-faith estimate of work schedules, including average monthly hours; employers must provide advance notice of schedules (7 days advance notice as of 7/1/2018 and 14 days as of 7/1/2020); premium payments apply for changes to the posted schedule; minimum 10-hour rest period between shifts required.	7/1/2018

Puerto Rico
PR Law	PR Topic	Quick Summary	Effective Date
Act No. 16-2017	Equal Pay / Salary History	Employers prohibited from inquiries on salary history; pay discrimination based on sex prohibited.	3/8/2018

Rhode Island
RI Law	RI Topic	Quick Summary	Effective Date
HB 5413, SB 290	Paid Sick Leave	Employers with 18+ employees in the state must permit employees to accrue and use paid sick and safe time, up to 24 hours in 2018, with increases annually.	7/1/2018

Vermont
VT Law	VT Topic	Quick Summary	Effective Date
HB 136	Pregnancy Accommodations	Employers must provide reasonable accommodation for an employee's pregnancy-related condition, absent undue hardship.	1/1/2018
HB 462	Social Media and Privacy	Employers cannot request that employees or applicants disclose personal social media account information or require an employee to access a personal social media account in the employer's presence.	1/1/2018

Virginia
VA Law	VA Topic	Quick Summary	Effective Date
HB 1646, SB 1333	Wage Garnishment	Lowers the maximum disposable earnings subject to garnishment.	7/1/2018

Washington
WA Law	WA Topic	Quick Summary	Effective Date
SB 5975	Paid Family Leave	Will entitle eligible employees up to 12 weeks of paid time off for the birth or adoption of a child, or for the serious medical condition of the employee or a family member. Employers with 50 or fewer employees will not be required to make employer contributions to WA PFL.	12/31/2019
Initiative No. 1433	Paid Sick Leave	All employees entitled to accrue paid sick leave at a rate of 1 hour per 40 hours worked, with carryover to the next year.	1/1/2018

Immediate take-aways for multi-state employers?

Don't request salary history or salary requirements as part of the application and interview process.
Don't request applicants' salary information from former employers.
Don't request criminal history information prior to making a conditional offer of employment.
Review your background check policies, eligibility criteria, and pre-adverse/adverse action letters to ensure compliance with federal and state-specific requirements (including CA's new pre-adverse and adverse action letters).
Ensure you are paying NY exempt employees at least the statutory minimum salary based upon location within NY.
Ensure your PTO/vacation/sick leave policies comply with state and local sick leave laws (and don't forget the notice requirements).
Conduct harassment training that comports with all state-law requirements.