Here are a few changes in labor law likely in the near future and a couple more on the distant horizon.
Nearest are proposals to make more people subject to overtime pay and classify more people as employees instead of independent contractor.
You can find more info from Accounting Today: Labor Department Driving Changes Accountants Need to Know About. (Cross-posted from my other blog Nonprofit Update.)
Overtime
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act specifies who must be treated as an hourly employee and who may be treated as salaried. If a person is in the employee status, actual hours must be reported with overtime paid at time-and-a-half for weekly hours over 40.
One of the factors is that a person earning less than $455 a week, or $23,660 a year, must be treated as hourly.
The Department of Labor has proposed increasing that cutoff to $970 a week, or $50,440 a year.
That means all staff earning up to $50,440 a year would have to report actual hours worked and get paid overtime.
This would be a big issue for a large number of charities. A large number of businesses would be affected.
Employee or independent contractor
The article points out the DoL is pushing to get more people categorized as employees instead of independent contractor. The DoL perceives that many workers are incorrectly categorized as independent contractor. New interpretations will expand the understanding of what constitutes employment.
Paid leave
This is more on the horizon. Comments from the President indicate policy efforts to expand paid leave for more employees. This would include executive action to authorize paternal paid leave and advocating legislation for paid sick leave.
State-based retirement incentives
DoL is encouraging states to authorize plans to encourage private plans to set up retirement plans.
On top of all the other things you need to do, it might be good to start paying attention to these issues.