Jerry Maatman Published in National Underwriter Property & Casualty / Risk & Benefits Management Edition
06/12/2006
Jerry's article "New Workplace Laws Challenge RMs, HR" in the June 12 issue of National Underwriter Property & Casualty / Risk & Benefits Management Edition notes that "While various state legislatures passed fewer pieces of employment legislation in 2005 than in recent years, a significant number of workplace issues were impacted by these enactments. The new laws covered issues that should make the lives of risk and HR managers interesting and challenging this year." Jerry highlights the issues which include: Expansion of prohibited bases of discrimination; New employment law procedural requirements; Leave-of-absence entitlements; Worker privacy; Plant closings and mass layoffs; Equal pay legislation; and Prohibitions on smoking in the workplace. In the article, he notes: new legislation that eight states and the District of Columbia enacted that created or enlarged protected category groups including five new laws added protection for discrimination based on sexual orientation; Five states enacted legislation or amended existing legislation which changed or enlarged procedures for litigation of employment discrimination claims; Several states passed new leave-of-absence laws or expanded leave entitlements; and Worker privacy laws were enacted in a number of states. He also points out that several states passed miscellaneous labor/employment laws, including the regulation of plant closings and mass-layoffs, smoking in the workplace, and equal-pay statutes and adds that the most controversial new statute is Maryland's Fair Share Health Care Fund Act, dubbed the "Wal-Mart bill." The Maryland legislature enacted the measure in January, overriding the governor's veto. The bill requires companies in Maryland with more than 10,000 employees to either spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on health care coverage or place the money in a fund that would benefit the state Medicare program.
