Urgent HR Compliance Update: New Versions of Workplace Posters
Urgent HR Compliance Update: New Versions of Workplace Posters
Usually, we talk about items like retention and hiring, but today we are diving into the compliance side of HR. Karen Moss, our HR Expert, provides details on what you need to know! Karen, take it away:
Due to new rights granted under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) and the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act (PUMP Act), employers must display a new version of workplace posters.
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act:
Align to the left
Align in the middle
Resize to full width
Align to the right
This new law went into effect on 6/27/23.
It requires covered employers (15 or more employees) to provide "reasonable accommodations" to a worker's known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions unless the accommodation will cause the employer an undue hardship.
Reasonable accommodations might include assigning light duty, permitting more frequent bathroom breaks or allowing pregnant workers to drink water at their workstations.
Other accommodations under the PWFA might include:
The ability to sit at a workstation.
Closer parking.
Flexible hours.
Appropriately sized uniforms and safety apparel.
Additional break time to use the bathroom, eat and rest.
Leave to recover from childbirth.
Reassignment from activities that are strenuous or involve exposure to compounds not safe for pregnancy.
In addition to this new law, another law called Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers (PUMP Act) went into effect 12/29/22.
The Pump Act requires employers to provide a reasonable break each time a nursing employee has a need to express milk for one year after the child's birth. Employers must provide a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion in which the employee can pump.
Companies with fewer than 50 employees can be exempt from the PUMP Act's provisions if they demonstrate compliance would impose an undue hardship.
Georgia has had its own Lactation Break Law which became effective on 8/5/20. The Georgia law applies to all employees, requires break time to be paid and does not contain a one year time limit on granting of lactation breaks.
Here also are links to our podcast where we explain more about it:
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our tHriving team.
Small Businesses Required to Perform In-Person I-9 Verifications
I enjoy talking about culture, retention, and best hiring practices of HR. However, compliance is an extremely important part of HR, and these new I-9 Regulations will affect small businesses. So this may not be the most exciting newsletter for small businesses, but it is necessary.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that employers in the United States will have until August 30, 2023, to physically inspect the identity and employment eligibility documents of employees whose Form I-9 was completed virtually due to COVID-19 flexibility provisions.
During the pandemic, in-person reviews of employees' original identity and employment authorization documents were deferred. Instead, employers were permitted to conduct virtual or copy reviews of the documents, with the expectation that a physical inspection would occur when normal operations resumed.
Now that flexibility provisions are ending, employers have until August 30, 2023, to perform all required physical examinations of identity and employment eligibility documents for those hired on or after March 20, 2020, whose identity and work eligibility documents were examined virtually or remotely according to the flexibility accommodations. Employers must write "documents physically examined" with the date of examination in Section 2: Additional Information on the Form I-9 or in Section 3, as appropriate.
Employers should consider different scenarios when performing physical reviews, such as the same or different employer representative conducting the review and distinguishing between expired List A or List C documents that require reverification or not. If the employee is not in proximity to the employer, an authorized representative may complete Section 2, and the employer is liable for any paperwork deficiencies in the Form I-9 completed by the authorized representative.
In conclusion, employers in the United States have been given a deadline of August 30, 2023, to complete physical inspections of identity and employment eligibility documents for employees who had their Form I-9 completed virtually due to COVID-19 flexibility provisions. Employers should be aware of the different scenarios and follow the guidelines provided by DHS and ICE.
This was just announced last week, and we do expect final regulations to come out at some point soon. If there are any changes, we will continue to keep you updated.
Sales Pitch of the Day:
The HR Audit is a tool designed for small businesses in any industry to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their HR function.
We evaluate the 14 areas of HR from compliance to retention. We develop an HR strategy to make your employees proud of where they work. Watch the video to the right for more information or visit our HR Audit Page on our website.