Quarterly HR Update – September 2024

Fall is here…and soon an Election! We hope everyone is settling into the fall season. There is a lot going on in the world, including an upcoming national election, so we are starting this Update with some thoughts about dealing with politics in the workplace; we’ve also included our regular Legal Updates.

Dealing with Politics in the Workplace

As we come nearer to elections and with some hotly contested races, it may be hard to keep politics or political discussions outside the workplace. We know that many people feel very passionate about these topics and sometimes that can make others feel uncomfortable when views are expressed loudly or vehemently. This might be a good time to remind employees that while you don’t want to limit their freedom of speech, you do expect employees to remain focused on their work – regardless of personal views. Here are some suggestions:

Role model expected behavior. Don’t discuss charged topics in the workplace.
Create a supportive, encouraging work environment by focusing on shared accomplishments and other topics that remind your team what they have in common.
Keep topics focused on work, company goals and other team-oriented items.
Listen to exchanges with peers with an open mind.
Give permission to employees to ask a co-worker to stop sharing their opinions with them.
Intervene if you see a co-worker looking uncomfortable in a situation.

Our right to vote and participate in politics is critical to the success of our democracy. However, when it comes to the organization, maintaining a productive work environment where everyone is focused on the common goal, is also critical. Ask team members to remember they will still need to be able to work with the team after November.

Legal Updates & Info

Please note this is a summary of upcoming changes and not an all-inclusive overview.

Under Federal Law…

Medicare Part D Notification Requirements: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) require group health plan sponsors to provide the Medicare Part D Creditable Coverage Disclosure to Medicare-eligible individuals before October 15th of each year. We find that most plans are creditable (which means your prescription drug plan offers the same or better benefits than the Medicare Part D plan) and often times brokers will include a Medicare Part D Notice in open enrollment packets. In terms of next steps to meet this notification requirement:

Determine if your group prescription drug plan is creditable. (If you are unsure, check with your broker.
If not provided by your broker, customize the appropriate model notice here. (Very few fields need to be customized!)
Send the Disclosure to all plan participants. (While the requirement is to send the Disclosure to Medicare-eligible individuals, because it is difficult to know who is Medicare-eligible, we recommend sending the Disclosure to all plan participants)

Exempt Salary Threshold Increase, effective January 1, 2025: In our April 2024 article we reported the United States Department of Labor (DOL)’s final rule to increase the minimum salary threshold for exempt employees under the administrative, executive, and professional exemptions. The first increase occurred, effective July 1, 2024, to $43,888 annually. The next increase is scheduled for January 1, 2025, to a minimum of $58,656 annually.

While we understand there may still be legal proceedings challenging this law, it’s important for employers to continue making plans to comply. As a reminder, to be exempt, an employee needs to meet a duties test and a salary threshold/basis test. This law does not change the duties test.

Under Washington Law…

State & City Minimum Wage Changes, effective January 1, 2025: Washington State and the cities of Seattle and SeaTac should be announcing their minimum wage changes effective January 1, 2025, sometime later this month. We will report back once that information is announced. (Update here!)

King County Minimum Wage Changes, effective January 1, 2025: King County, on the other hand, has already announced their minimum wage increase, effective January 1, 2025, for employees working in unincorporated King County. (This handy map allows you to enter an address to find out if the location is in unincorporated King County.) There is a phase-in approach for small to medium size employers so the rates, depending on employer size, will differ. Effective January 1, 2025:

Small employers (0-15 employees and less than $2 million gross revenue) must pay $17.29 per hour.
Medium employers (16-499 employees regardless of gross revenue OR more than $2 million in revenue, regardless of 15 or fewer employees) must pay $18.29 per hour.
Large employers (500 or more employees worldwide) must pay $20.29 per hour.

Each January the minimum wage will increase, which will allow small and medium sized employers to catch up to the standard rate over the course of a few years. For large employers, a new rate will be announced each year based on inflation. To determine employee count, employers should count the average number of worldwide employees in the previous 12 months.

Exempt Salary Threshold Increase, effective January 1, 2025: (Update: See Washington Minimum Wage and Exempt Salary Thresholds for 2025.) Once the new minimum wage for Washington State is decided, the minimum salary threshold for exempt employees will also increase, effective January 1, 2025. Washington established an implementation schedule for annual changes a few years ago and will likely announce the approved threshold for 2025 in the coming weeks. As a reminder, the threshold is directly linked to the minimum wage. The projected threshold for small employers (1-50 employees) is $69,555.20, which is 2x the minimum wage; a somewhat modest increase from the current threshold of $67,724.80. The projected threshold for large employers (51+ employees) is $78,249.60, which is 2.25x the minimum wage; large employers have a much more significant increase from the current threshold of $67,724.80.

Fun fact/reminder: while it’s important to reasonably plan for the projected amount, the actual amount can differ. The projected 2024 threshold for both small and large employers was $69,264, with the final approved threshold being $67,724.80 for 2024. We will send an update once the 2025 threshold figure is finalized and announced.

Under California Law…

Minimum Wage & Exempt Salary Threshold Increases, effective January 1, 2025: California is planning some wage-related changes for 2025. If you are a California employer or have California employees, here is what you need to know:

Effective January 1, 2025, the minimum wage for all California employers is $16.50 per hour. (This is up from $16 per hour).
Keep an eye on local changes too – cities or counties may have minimum wage changes as well. California’s Department of Industrial Relations reports a handy tool (made available from and maintained by UC Berkley) to track these changes: list of City and County minimum wages in California.
The exempt salary threshold (for white-collar exemptions to overtime requirements) will increase to $68,640 per year on January 1, 2025. (This is up from $66,560 per year).

Indoor Heat Illness Rule: California recently passed a new indoor heat standard for employers, which applies when the temperature reaches 82 degrees in an indoor workplace. The Office of Administrative Law expedited their review of this law, and it became effective on July 23, 2024. A brief overview of what this new standard requires:

When the Temperature Rises to 82 Degrees, employers are required to develop a written Heat Illness Prevention Plan, provide cool drinking water and cool-down rest periods, provide appropriate opportunities for acclimatization when employees are newly assigned to high heat areas, and train employees and supervisors on heat illness risks, symptoms and the expectations regarding monitoring, and responding to high heat.
When the Temperature Rises to 87 Degrees (or 82 degrees when employees work in high radiant heat or wear restrictive clothing that doesn’t allow for heat removal…), employers are required to measure and record the heat index, and implement control measures to reduce risk of heat illness, such as air condition and/or shielding from a radiant heat source.

There are some exceptions – for example, indoor spaces below 95 degrees when the employee is in the space for less than 15 minutes in a one-hour period. We also have some helpful resource material to share from the Cal/OSHA website, including a Model Plan for employers, as well as a Fact Sheet.

Model Whistleblower Poster: Back in July, AB 2299 was signed by Governor Newsom, requiring the California Labor Commissioner to develop a model posting to cover the existing posting requirement employers have to post information regarding the rights and protections employees have under whistleblower laws in California.

To clarify, this isn’t a new posting requirement – it’s an existing requirement that wasn’t totally clear on what needed to be posted. While employers are not required to post the exact notice prepared by the Labor Commissioner, if employers chose to post the model poster, they will effectively be deemed in compliance with the posting requirement regarding whistleblower protections! So, it makes good sense to post it, when it’s available, sometime before January 1, 2025. We will include a link in our next Update, assuming the model notice is available at that time.

Under Oregon Law…

We didn’t want to leave Oregon off the Update – but there’s nothing to report…thanks Oregon!

HRT Northwest: Your HRT Northwest Team

Seattle: (253) 642-7372 | info@hrtnorthwest.com

This Update is not a full overview of all recent or upcoming legal changes. HRT Northwest is staffed by professionals in the field of Human Resources and business management. We are glad to help with your HR needs; however, we do not offer legal advice and our services are not a substitute for the help of a qualified attorney.