IRS Increases Mileage Reimbursement Rate to 58.5 Cents

Effective July 1, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has increased the mileage reimbursement rate to 58.5 cents per mile for employment purposes. This is up from the previous 50.5 cents per mile that was in effect for January 1 through June 30, 2008. The reimbursement for medical expense purposes is increased from 19 cents per mile to 27 cents per mile. The IRS indicated that the reimbursement rate increase was in response to the recent increase in fuel price.

Increased Fines for Employers Violating Immigration Laws

Effective March 27, 2008, the Department of Justice will enforce higher civil fines against employers who violate federal immigration laws. Fines are based on the violation involved, which could include knowingly employing an unauthorized alien, failure to comply with the Form I-9 requirements, and discrimination against a job applicant or employee on the basis of citizenship or nationality.

FMLA Expanded to Include Military Related Leaves

On January 28, 2008, President Bush signed the National Defense Authorization Act for 2008 into law which immediately amended The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) to include two new military related leaves for service members and their families.

• Active Duty Leave requires eligible employers with eligible employees to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave a year, as the time is related to an employee's service member spouse, child, or parent's active duty or impending call to active duty. This category of leave is not effective until final regulations are released. However, the Department of Labor encourages employers to comply in the interim.
• Caregiver Leave provides eligible family members (including a "nearest blood relative") up to 26 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a service member who has a "serious illness or injury."

Employers should notify employees of the new leave provisions by posting the amendment to the FMLA poster, which is available here.

What is Important to Employees?

The Center for State & Local Government Excellence surveyed 1,200 Americans asking them what was important to them in regards to employment. An employer's health insurance plan was selected as very important by 84% of the respondents. The amount of vacation time was actually the lowest rated benefit with only 46% selecting it as very important.

Revised Form I-9 Now Available

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have released the long-awaited revised version of the Form I-9. The changes make formal the revisions that have existed in previous guidance from DHS. Those changes are:

• Form I-766 (Unexpired Employment Authorization Document) has been added as an acceptable List A document.
• Form I-151 (Alien Registration Receipt Card); a Certification of U.S. Citizenship; a Certificate of Naturalization; an Unexpired Reentry Permit; and an Unexpired Refugee Travel Document are no longer acceptable documents.

DHS has also also released an Employer Handbook which advises employers on I-9 requirements, including form instructions and illustrations of what certain documents look like.

Click here to download form

Click here to download Employer Handbook

FMLA: Counting Holidays During Intermittent Leave

The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a holiday that occurs during an employee's intermittent FMLA leave is counted towards FMLA if the employee is on leave for the full work week. This is consistent with the way that holidays are accounted for with employees on continuous FMLA leave.

California

On October 9, 2007, Governor Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 392 into law, which requires any employer of at least 25 employees to grant up to 10 days of unpaid leave to an employee who is the spouse of a military member on leave from deployment. The new law is effective October 9, 2007.

Florida

Effective July 1, 2008, Florida employers will need to update their policies regarding firearm possession by employees. Under the "Preservation and Protection of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Motor Vehicles Act of 2008," an individual has the right to lawfully possess a legally owned firearm inside a locked parked vehicle. An employer can not restrict that right and may not discriminate or terminate an employee for exercising that right.

Georgia

Recently passed Senate Bill 96 outlines accepted procedures for employee drug testing, including onsite drug testing and oral testing that meets certain criteria. The criteria and other procedures are available below.

Maine

Effective June 30, 2008, Maine's Family Leave Law has been expanded to include siblings. An eligible employee may take up to 10 weeks of unpaid leave for the serious health condition of the employee, spouse, child, domestic partner or sibling. Sibling is defined "a sibling of an employee who is jointly responsible with the employee for each other's common welfare as evidenced by joint living arrangements and joint financial arrangements."

The Maine Department of Labor has published a summary of labor law changes from 2007 including: a change in the military leave law to include domestic partners and employers of 15 or more employees; and a revision to the the state's family and medical leave law to include domestic partners and a provision for intermittent leave up to 10 weeks.

Maryland

Recently approved Senate Bill 797 clarifies that an employer is not required to pay an employee accrued leave time at the time of termination. The employer must document this policy and communicate it to employees. If the employer's policies are silent on the issue, then the employee would be entitled to payment of accrued leave time. The law does not apply to sick leave time.

Minnesota

In Lee v. Fresenius Medical Care, Inc. (2007 WL 3378653), the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld an employer's decision to deny pay out of accrued paid time off due to the employee being terminated for misconduct. An employer may place conditions on accrued leave, such as maximum accrual cap or circumstances in which the pay out will be denied, but such conditions and terms must be in the employment contract and employer policies and must not otherwise contradict state law.

New York

Effective August 15, 2007, employers must provide employees reasonable time to express milk for nursing a child up to three years following the child's birth. The time may be unpaid break time, paid break time, or paid meal time.

Oklahoma

The recently enacted Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act prohibits any employing entity in Oklahoma from terminating the employment of a U.S. citizen (or permanent resident alien) if there is an unauthorized (or illegal) alien working in a similar position and was hired after July 1, 2008. Additionally, the Act requires any private employer that is a contracted vendor of the local government to verify the work eligibility status of all new employees with a federally approved Status Verification System. Approved systems include E-Verify through the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Number Verification Service from the Social Security Administration.

Oregon

Effective January 1, 2008, employers with 25 or more employees in the state of Oregon must provide employees a break period for the purpose of expressing milk for nursing a child. A 30 minute break shall be provided for each 4 hour work period.

Washington

The Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault Leave Law was signed by Governor Gregoire on April 13, 2008 and takes effect immediately. This leave law allows an employee to take leave from work, with or without pay, intermittent or on a reduced scheduled basis to handle all situations that surround the occurrence of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking for themselves or a family member. The leave must not cause an employee to lose benefits and the employee must be restored to the same or equivalent position upon return.

Effective June 12, 2008, Senate Bill 6447 grants employees of any sized employer up to15 days of unpaid military family leave before their spouse is deployed or while their spouse is on leave from deployment. Additionally, under this bill, an employee who is a member of the Washington National Guard or Reserves will be entitled to receive 21 days of paid military leave of absence from their employer each year (up from 15 days).

The Washington Supreme Court recently ruled that the time service and installation technicians for Brinks Home Security spent driving in company trucks from their home to the first jobsite and back again on the last jobsite was compensable as hours worked. The ruling stated that the company truck served as a work place and that the employees were considered on duty since certain policies were in place dictating their behavior during the time, such as using the truck only for company business, non-employee passengers were not permitted, personal errands were not permitted, and may be required to be redirected to a different jobsite.