March 2023 Compliance Corner

Pay Transparency Requirements – Coming Soon to a State Near You 

The states of New York and California, as well as a number of cities, have enacted pay transparency requirements – initially for recruitment postings but to be extended to internal publicity as well. This trend will only grow, likely rapidly, so employers who are not already subject to those requirements are advised to start planning ahead. VBS can help you plan your implementation. Following are more specifics on those already in place. 

New York State Electronic Posting Requirements 

1.) If you have employees in New York state, in addition to physical postings, all those mandatory employment posters must be made available in electronic format to all New York-based employees – either on your website or intranet or via email. Beyond just making them available, you must also notify the employees of the existence of those posters – including links to their location on your intranet or website -– AND update your handbook and any other relevant internal resources with the electronic links to those posters. It appears that this requirement also applies to the required FEDERAL posters. 

This law became effective immediately upon signature by the governor, so compliance is required NOW. The same accessibility requirements that apply to federal posters also apply to the state posters. It is recommended that the distribution include posting on the “Careers” section of New York employers’ websites to show intent and avoid surprises. 

2.) A new required posting listing benefits available to military veterans is now required for employers with more that 50 employees in New York. The poster is available online here. 

Pay Posting Requirements Are Now in Effect in the Following Jurisdictions: 

States: California (15 or more employees), Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Nevada, New York (4 or more employees, effective 9/17/23), Rhode Island, Washington State (15 or more employees)  

Cities: Cincinnati, OH (15 or more employees), Ithaca, NY (4 or more employees), Jersey City (5 or more employees), New York City (4 or more employees), Toledo, OH (15 or more employees), Westchester County, NY (4 or more employees) 

And more are coming…. 

Compliance Would Have Been Cheaper… 

Activision (whole name “Activision Blizzard” was hit by the Security and Exchange Commission with a fine of $35 million for violations of several regulations, including the following: 

• failure to put in place an effective system to monitor and remedy employee complaints of workplace misconduct; 

• failure to put in place controls to mitigate potential risk to shareholders, including the above; and 

• including a “notice clause” in their separation agreement mandating that an employee give the company notice prior to filing any complaint with a government agency so the company could try to implement a [hasty] correction. 

Granted, this is a stock company, but the risks to any employer for non-compliance with all applicable regulations are very real. 

Trademark Scams Proliferating 

Add to all the scams we keep hearing about that of fraudsters claiming to be trademark providers for filing or protecting trademarks. Fake names include “Patent and Trademark Agency” of New York, the “Patent and Trademark Office” of Washington State, the “World Trademark Register” of Washington D.C., “GLOPAT” of Slovakia, and the “World Patent & Trademark Agency” of the Czech Republic. 

The US Patent & Trademark Office keeps an updated list of fraudsters and the World Intellectual Property Organization provides their own list as well.

EEOC Updates Guidance on Handling Hearing-Impaired Employees 

EEOC has issued new guidance with more current information about dealing with employees who are deaf or hard of hearing. Updated technology is cited as a possible accommodation, for instance. This update was apparently spurred by a number of legal actions against employers who allegedly discriminated against people with hearing disabilities. Accommodations deemed suitable by EEOC included a sign-language interpreter or automation that transcribes spoken word in real time. EEOC indicated that the Job Accommodation Network could be a useful source of information or alternatives. 

A Few Significant Compliance Deadlines, FYI (courtesy of Berkshire) 

• OFCCP Contractor Portal Certification - deadline to be announced; following last year’s deadline, we are operating under a June 2023 deadline until we hear otherwise 

• EEO-1 Component 1 Reporting – portal is tentatively scheduled to open in April; deadline for filing to be announced, but expected to be in May 2023 

• California Pay Data Reporting – filing deadline is May 10, 2023 

• VETS-4212 Reporting – filing deadline is September 30, 2023