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The backstitch HR law blog is a monthly series where we provide the latest updates on upcoming and recently in-effect legislation. Here are short snippets of State, Federal, and Global changes in HR and employment law, so your organization can be prepared for changes this month.
Colorado
Colorado is among the states that are banning noncompete clauses. HB 22-1317 makes it unlawful to prevent an employee from working at any occupation of their choice. Specifically, noncompetes cannot apply to those who are not high earners above a certain threshold. Other exceptions include the recovery of expenses for specialized training, reasonable prohibitions that does not prevent disclosure of publicly available training or knowledge or fees for the repayment of a scholarship if the workers fails to comply with the conditions of the scholarship. For permissible noncompetes, they must be provided to prospective workers before the offer has been accepted, 14 days before the effective start or 14 days before any compensation change. This goes into effect on August 10.
Pennsylvania
On August 5, Pennsylvania enacts new standards for the classification of tipped workers. First, an employee must make at least $135 a month before their minimum wage can be lowered to $2.83/hour. Employers also cannot take a tip credit if an employee's nontipped work is over 20% of their shift. This is to align Pennsylvania law with Federal law. As part of that alignment, employers may pool tips, but exclude managers, supervisors and owners as well. Credit card and transaction fees can no longer be deducted from tips. Finally, service charges are not considered tips.
Also on August 5, Pennsylvania is amending its rules for overtime exemptions. Like with some portions of the tipped employees update, this is to better align with Federal guidelines. Most salaried employees who work 40 hours a week and are paid below the Federal threshold may qualify for overtime, provided they do not perform executive, administrative or professional duties.
