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Each month, Mployer collects and presents some of the most relevant and most pressing recent changes in law, compliance, and policy in areas related to employee benefits, health care, and human resources.
A federal court in Texas determined that the Department of Labor exceeded its authority last summer by increasing the minimum pay thresholds for employees to qualify under the executive, administrative, and professional and highly-compensated employee exceptions to minimum wage and overtime protections.
Those minimum pay thresholds have reverted to their prior levels - back to $684 per week for the EAP exemption (down from $844 per week under the now defunct rule), and back to $107,432 per year for the HCE exemption (down from $132,964 per year under the now defunct rule).
The National Labor Relations Board has issued a decision prohibiting employers from forcing employees under threat of punishment to attend meetings during which the employer will share views on unionization or its impacts.
Employers are allowed, however, to convene employees and share their views on unionization and potential impacts so long as employees are not disciplined or adversely affected in any way for not attending (or leaving early). Employers should not even keep or maintain such attendance records.
You can read more here.
New York: New York employers that receive criminal history records for applicants and employees must now provide those applicants and employees with a copy of those records and a copy of the applicable New York corrections law as well as an opportunity to correct any inaccurate information that may be contained in those records.
Further, beginning January 1, 2025, New York employers will be required to provide 20 hours of paid prenatal leave during a 52 week period. Also beginning in the new year, the characteristics to which equal protection was extended via in the New York State Human Rights Law and the resulting protections will become formally enshrined in the New York State Constitution. Those characteristics include: age, disability, ethnicity, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, pregnancy, and anything else related to reproductive healthcare.
You can read more here.
You can find the complete IRS 2025 benefit contribution limit list here.
Beginning January 1, 2025, the minimum wage paid for work associated with federal contracts will increase.
The minimum wage that can be paid for work conducted in association with federal contracts covered by Executive Order 13658 will be $13.30 ($9.30 for tipped employees), while the minimum wage paid for work conducted in association with federal contracts covered by Executive Order 14026 will climb to $17.75 per hour for both tipped and non-tipped employees.
Additional guidance about which kinds of contracts are covered by which executive order can be found here.
Large employers with an average of 50 or more full-time employees or the equivalent are required to either offer employees minimal, affordable health coverage or they must pay a penalty in the event that an employee secures health coverage with a premium tax credit via the exchanges.
In 2025, the threshold for what qualifies as affordable coverage increases from 8.39% to 9.02%, which means that an employee’s required contribution to the plan can be no more than 9.02% of their salary in order for the plan to be considered affordable, which allows employers to avoid potentially paying the penalty.
You can read more about the affordability threshold here.
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