3 HR Compliance Updates to Have on Your Radar
Important 2023 HR Compliance Updates
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
Similar to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), expands protections for pregnant employees and applicants. Employers with 15+ employees are required to engage in an interactive process with qualified employees/applicants to determine reasonable accommodation without undue hardship.
The PWFA goes into effect June 27, 2023. Additional guidance should be forthcoming from the EEOC prior to June. Here is an overview of what to expect.
Action Needed: If you are an employer with 15 or more employees, now is a good time to review and update your ADA and pregnancy related policies.
Once updated, be sure to have employees sign off on the new policy and train your supervisors since oftentimes employees indirectly or directly ask for accommodation from supervisors, which prompts the employer’s responsibility to engage in interactive process.
Non-Disparagement and Confidentiality Provisions in Severance Agreements
A recent National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling prohibits employers from offering severance agreements requiring employees to broadly waive their rights around non-disparagement and confidentiality. This likely came about due to some employers in the past using strict non-disparagement clauses to prohibit separated employees from talking about discrimination and harassment.
Under this new ruling, limited confidentiality and non-disparagement clauses may still be lawful, if they are “narrowly-tailored to restrict the dissemination of proprietary or trade secret information for a period of time based on legitimate business justifications.”
Although I’m not an attorney, in my personal opinion, this ruling better protects employee free speech while focusing on protecting employer proprietary information. (Key word being "proprietary.") Here is additional information on the ruling.
Action Needed: This ruling appears to affect for both past and future non-supervisory severance agreements. Now would be a good time to have an attorney review your organization’s standard severance agreement.
Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act
The Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (PUMP) Act expands the existing Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) protections to all employees. Under the PUMP Act, employers must provide employees who are nursing with reasonable time and a private space (other than a bathroom) to express breast milk.
Employers with fewer than 50 employees may be exempt from complying with the PUMP Act if they establish undue hardship (significant difficulty or expense).
Again, not an attorney, but in my personal opinion, it would be difficult to prove undue hardship, and, providing the time and space is a more inclusive practice for employees.
Here is the PUMP Act information. And, here is the FLSA information.
Action Needed: The PUMP Act takes effect April 28. 2023. Now may be a good time to review your existing lactation accommodation policy, ensuring it is in line with the new PUMP Act.
Additional state and federal compliance (plus equity and inclusion updates)
In case you missed it, here is a recent related blog post with a checklist for updating your employee handbook. It includes additional information on federal and state compliance updates as well as equity and inclusion updates.
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