Legal/Compliance Roundup - November 2023

‍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. 

2022 EEO-1 Submissions Deadline December 5th

Data collection is open for 2022  EEO-1 Component 1 filings with the deadline for submission swiftly approaching in just a couple weeks on December 5th, 2023. 

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These reports are part of a mandatory annual data collection process which legally requires all employers with at least 100 employees and federal contractors with at least 50 employees to provide certain information about their employees to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, including employee demographics and job categories. 

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The Filer Support Message Center, which is a help desk that provides support and assistance  to help people submit filings online, is open as well to help facilitate the submission process.

Secure Act 2.0 Takes Effect January 1, 2024

The Secure Act 2.0, which was signed into law in the closing days of 2022 and will take effect at the beginning of the new year, ushers in some sweeping changes to retirement planning and savings administration in the US, including: 

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• Mandatory 401k Enrollment: Most companies with more than 10 employees that have been in operation for at least 3 years will be required to automatically enroll employees into their 401k plan with between 3% and 10% automatic contributions. There’s also a tax credit available for many companies to cover the additional administrative burden of automatic enrollment.
• Starter 401ks With No Employer Match Requirement: The expense of matching employee contributions has deprived many employees over the years of the benefits of having a 401k account even in the absence of matching employer contributions, which should no longer be an issue under the new law. 
• Increased Catch-up Contributions: The amount of annual contributions that employees can begin putting into their 401ks at age 50 is being increased by 50% from $6,500 to $10,000, and that limit is now indexed to inflation to ensure it keeps up with the cost of living.
• Increased Emergency Savings Account Flexibility: Despite more than 4 in 10 US workers expressing a desire to be automatically enrolled in an emergency savings account program through their employer, only about 1 in 10 employers offered such an opportunity as of 2022. The Secure Act increases the flexibility and ease with which employers can now offer such account via withholding as much as 3% of opting-in employees’ paychecks up to $2,500 to be placed into said emergency savings accounts, from which employees can then withdraw their money untaxed up to four times a year with no penalties whatsoever. 

The Workplace Psychological Safety Act

The Workplace Psychological Safety Act has received attention in 3 state houses already and seems poised to set a new standard across the country for how psychological abuse is reported, managed, and prevented at the workplace.

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One survey of workers from Massachusetts - where supporters are currently pushing for the adoption of the Act - indicated that nearly 7 out of 10 respondents had been bullied at work at some point in their career. The effects of this abuse were reported to range from depression and anxiety to loss of confidence and worsened health in general. 

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When these victims of bullying reported the abuse, however, nearly all claimed that despite raising the issue with HR, management, and/or state agencies, the vast majority found insufficient resolution to their issues and lost wages, incurred medical expenses, and/or left their jobs as a result. 

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The Workplace Psychological Safety Act goes beyond most current harassment statutes and provides better protection to victims by closing loopholes and removing hurdles that had previously inhibited accountability, including requiring employers to promptly investigate complaints and implement policies aimed at combating abuse in addition to mandating the quarterly reporting of diversity metrics and abuse reports, which will be available via public search in an effort to increase transparency and incentivize compliance. 

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While the Act has yet to be enacted by any state legislature, the momentum is clearly building, having already cleared the Senate in Rhode Island, with an anticipated imminent introduction in New York soon, as well.

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You can read more about The Workplace Psychological Safety Act here.