How to Comply With Growing Number of City and County Laws
Employers have a tough enough time staying on top of ever-changing employment laws just at the state level. Throw local ordinances into the mix, and the task becomes even harder! But the fact is, many localities have taken matters into their own hands and enacted minimum wage or paid sick leave (PSL) laws (and more) that exceed state requirements.
Laws enacted by City and County Governments adds complexity for employers. Businesses operating in a particular city or county are not only required to implement and comply with local laws they are also required to display the associated labor law notices. Failure to Post these labor law notices are enforced and fines can be imposed for non-compliance.
Effect of Local Compliance Management on Employers
- Accessibility of Legal Language: For those that do business in multiple cities/states, it is hard to stay on top of local ordinances, as information about these updates aren’t as readily accessible.
- Which Law Applies?: The various laws, like the paid sick leave laws differ from state to state, and even from city to city in states such as California, Connecticut, Maine and more. If a city law differs from state law, the employer must comply with the law that provides the employee with the most generous benefit. For example, California’s law allows employers to satisfy accrual and carryover requirements by front-loading paid sick leave at the beginning of the year, but doing so may not satisfy San Francisco’s accrual requirements. If an employer is not aware of the differences, the employer may inadvertently violate the law.
- Law Posting Requirements: Many of the local laws require the employer to post a poster for employees to view in an area frequented by the employee. Most poster services out there do not supply the local ordinance posters (as well as industry specific posters) along with their all-in-one poster service. This leaves the employer's reliance solely on their HR Department. Not OnePointHCM clients though! We have a solution.
- Handbooks and Policies Maze: Varying policies and procedures for employees in different locations can be difficult to implement and enforce. Thus, making handbook updates, changes, and memos a continuous complicated HR task.
Best Practices and Resources for local law compliance
Check if any local ordinances may affect how you pay, provide benefits to or otherwise treat your employees.
If you have employees working in a city with a local PSL ordinance, review your existing policies to make sure they comply.
Review and bookmark OnePoint HCM’s City and County Labor Law Postings, a FREE resource to browse, download and post the relevant city and county labor law notices and keep law postings in compliance.
Utilize OnePoint HCM’s HR Support Center and upgrade to On-Demand to gain the assistance of a team of HR Professionals to create new policies or update old policies to comply with local ordinances.
Consult with The HR Support Center On-Demand or legal counsel to develop a plan for complying with the various laws in other localities.
