Aspen Highlights & Updates
Recent Webinar: HR & Benefits Diligence: Top 7 Priorities – Aspen HR hosted an educational webinar on October 3rd which dove into HR compliance audits, employee benefits benchmarking, and HR workflow reviews. If you missed it, the replay will be available soon.
Operating Partners Forum NYC Dinner – Aspen HR is hosting a dinner on Tuesday, October 22nd at L’Appart (225 Liberty St., New York) for attendees of the Operating Partners Forum New York!
Partner Spotlight
Introducing Beltex Insurance: Commercial insurance for professional services and investment firms – Cyber security is top of mind for nearly every business these days. All around us there are reports of attacks in the news and requirements from clients and investors to demonstrate enhanced security in response to constantly evolving threats. It’s time to protect your business with comprehensive coverage including cyber insurance.
Beltex Insurance built an exclusive cyber insurance policy that rewards businesses with high cybersecurity.
Additional commercial insurance coverages are available such as crime, directors & officers, employment liability, and more via 45+ carriers. Click here to learn more.
What We’re Reading
5 Critical Reasons SMBs Must Hire for Culture: Culture—the collective attitudes, behaviors, and values of your workforce—is one of the most important characteristics of any business. For SMBs, building and maintaining the right culture is especially crucial… Read more…
5 Steps to an Impactful Employee Onboarding Experience: Given the time and effort you invest in finding, hiring, and training new hires, you want your investment to pay off well into the future. Effective onboarding can help make that happen. Read more…
New Aspenites
Please join us in welcoming two new Aspenites to our team!
- Lindsay Henry, Director, Client Experience
- Jack Grace, Sales Analyst Associate
HR and Legal Alerts!
The Department of Labor’s Guidance on AI Hiring Best Practices – The Department of Labor’s Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology (“PEAT”) released a website for employers on best practices to avoid artificial intelligence (“AI”) hiring discrimination. The website highlights ten focus areas to assist employers. You can find details of the plan here. The AI & Inclusive Hiring Framework is organized into Ten Focus Areas that align with selected goals and activities for achieving the outcomes laid out in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework (“AI RMF”).
California Legislature Passes Laws Effective 2025
- Victim-of-Violence Leave Expansion. The governor signed a bill expanding existing workplace protections for employees who are victims of crime or abuse. The new law redefines who is entitled to protection, broadens the reasons requiring protected time off, and transfers enforcement authority to the state’s Civil Rights Department.
- 2-Part Driving License Anti-Discrimination Test. A new law signed into effect over the weekend by Governor Newsom will soon prohibit California employers from telling job applicants that a driver’s license will be required for a job unless the position meets a two-part test. SB 1100 amends the Fair EmploymentHousing Act (“FEHA”) so that, starting January 1, 2025, you’ll only be able to make such a statement if you reasonably expect driving to be one of the job functions and no alternative forms of transportation would work out.
- Expanded Freelance Workers Regulations. Beginning in 2025, private employers who hire certain independent contractors must provide a written agreement specifying certain terms and pay their compensation by certain deadlines. The new law aims to give freelancers basic worker protections and the right to be paid on time.
- AB 2123. Beginning on January 1, 2025, Employers will no longer be able to require employees to use up to two weeks of vacation before they receive paid family leave insurance benefits.
Illinois Update to Employee/Former Employee Payroll Records – Amendments to the Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act (“IWPACA”) will take effect on January 1, 2025. Employers must maintain copies of employee paystubs for at least three (3) years after the payment date.
Employers will be required to furnish copies of an employee or former employee’s pay stubs upon request. They may require that employees submit the request in writing. Employees can request that the pay stubs be delivered in physical or electronic format. Employers must provide the pay stubs within 21 days of the request. Employers are not required to grant more than two requests per 12-month period.
Finally, upon an employee’s separation, you must offer to provide the outgoing employee with a record of all of the outgoing employee’s paystubs from one year preceding the separation date. The offer must be made to the outgoing employee by the end of their final pay period, and you must record the date and how the outgoing employee responded.
New Jersey Pay Transparency – New Jersey is the next state to adopt pay transparency rules. On September 26, 2024, the New Jersey state legislature passed Senate Bill 2310, which, if signed, would mandate that certain New Jersey employers disclose wage or salary ranges and general benefits information in each job posting and advertisement. The bill also requires that employers take reasonable steps to make opportunities for promotions known to current employees. The governor has 45 days to sign the bill. If signed, the bill would go into effect six months from the date of enactment.
The bill defines employers as any person, company, corporation, firm, labor organization, or association with ten or more employees over 20 calendar weeks that does business, employs persons, or takes applications for employment within this state.
Covered employers would be required to disclose in each posting for new jobs and transfer opportunities the range of the hourly wage or salary for the position and a general description of benefits and other compensation programs for which the employee would be eligible.
Voting Leave Compliance Obligations – As election day approaches, it is important to review voting leave laws. Most states require that employers provide at least a few hours off to vote, and sometimes, those hours need to be paid. These laws often require very little advance notice from employees about their need for leave, so employers should be prepared to grant last-minute requests to leave work to vote. Please review your state laws or reach out to your HR representative for more information.
California, DC, and New York also require that employers post a notice about employees’ voting rights in a conspicuous location in the workplace.
California requires the notice to be posted at least ten days before the November 5 election—which is October 26, a Saturday. If you’re closed on Saturdays, we recommend posting or sending this notice by Friday the 25th. California’s notice can be found in English here. A reminder that California law provides protections for employees’ political activity, which makes it difficult for employers to control political speech and activity in the workplace.
New York requires the notice to be posted at least ten working days before the November 5 election (October 22 for a Monday through Friday workplace). New York’s notice is available here.
Have questions about these updates? Don’t hesitate to contact our team!
