5 Laws That Could Change the Way You Work in 2024
Over the past year, workers across the country have won the right to request pregnancy accommodations and pump breastmilk at work without fear of repercussions. As states have slowly passed benefits like paid leave, many workers have also gained the right to take paid time off when caring for a new child or recovering from an illness. In January, millions of workers are being awarded pay increases when the minimum wage is boosted across 22 states.
Looking ahead, some of these trends — such as states enacting laws that secure paid leave and salary transparency — will likely continue into the new year. Employers will have to watch for how federal agencies exercise their enforcement powers, from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issuing its interpretation of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to the Securities and Exchange Commission cracking down on companies that exploit nondisclosure agreements. And as always, a new crop of state-level employment laws will go into effect next year that shape workplace policies and the hiring market.
A recent Fast Company article highlights what that could mean for workers and employers alike:
Sealing Criminal Records
In many states, the legalization of cannabis has been accompanied by efforts to expunge marijuana-related convictions from criminal records. But a broader movement to seal records has also taken hold in many parts of the country, to help mitigate the employment and housing discrimination that people with a criminal record often face.
This year, New York became the 12th state to pass a Clean Slate law, which will automatically seal the records of residents who have gone a certain period of time without another conviction. (For those with misdemeanors, the waiting period is three years; for felonies — barring the most serious crimes, like murder — that time frame stretches to eight years.)
When this law goes into effect next November, it could impact two million eligible New Yorkers, though they will need to wait three years from that point for their records to be sealed. But in states like Utah and Pennsylvania, which passed similar laws a few years back, the process is already well underway. Next year, a number of other states will start sealing records as well, enabling more people to better participate in the workforce.
Banning Marijuana Drug Testing
With recreational marijuana now legalized in 24 states, it follows that lawmakers and employers are reconsidering dated policies around drug testing in the workplace. A number of those states have already passed laws to ensure workers don’t face discrimination for using marijuana off the job. But in 2021, New York became the first state in the country to do away with all marijuana testing for both prospective and current workers (with some exceptions that are comparable to how employers might handle alcohol abuse in the workplace). A similar law recently took effect in Minnesota, and as of next year, both California and Washington will restrict drug testing for marijuana and bar employers from holding previous drug use against job candidates.
Increasing Pay Transparency
Pay transparency legislation has grown in popularity over the past few years, allowing job applicants to see a salary range when they apply for a role and forcing cagey employers to be more transparent with prospective hires as they negotiate compensation. The law just went into effect in New York state this year following its implementation within New York City in 2022, and also rolled out across states like California and Washington. (The first state to enact this type of a law was Colorado, where it was implemented in 2021.) Massachusetts just passed its own version this fall, and salary transparency laws in Hawaii and Illinois will be put into practice in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
While some employers have attempted to circumvent the letter of the law by providing comically large salary bands, these laws have already sparked a major upswing in companies disclosing compensation data in job listings, even reportedly pressuring them to offer better benefits and starting salaries.
Restricting Noncompete Agreements
The legality of noncompete agreements has been a matter of debate for years, with an estimated 30 million Americans subjected to them. A number of states — including California, Oklahoma, and North Dakota — have already taken steps to prohibit or significantly restrict the use of noncompete agreements. But this year the issue drew particular attention when the Federal Trade Commission proposed a new rule that would effectively ban companies from using noncompete clauses in employment contracts. In May, NLRB general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo echoed that sentiment, arguing in a memo that enforcing noncompete clauses in employment contracts and severance agreements violated the National Labor Relations Act in most instances. Due to an overwhelming response during the public comment period, the FTC has punted its final vote to April 2024.
In the meantime, however, states like Minnesota have continued to enact laws this year that take aim at noncompete agreements. The state of New York has also passed legislation that would ban noncompete clauses, but the governor has yet to sign it due to concerns over its scope. (The proposal faces opposition from industries like finance and media, where such agreements are commonplace.)
Enacting Paid Leave Benefits
The fight for paid leave dates back to the early 20th century, but in recent years there has been a renewed sense of urgency around the issue, fueled in no small part by the pandemic. While Congress has repeatedly failed to pass federal legislation securing paid leave, states have taken the lead on this topic. Back in 2002, California became the first state to enact a paid leave law, but as of this year, 13 states have now passed paid family leave, most of which have also adopted paid sick leave. (Washington, DC, and a number of localities have also passed paid leave in some capacity.)
In 2024, workers in Colorado will finally have access to paid family leave, more than three years after residents voted in a ballot measure securing the benefit; in Minnesota, which passed paid family leave this year, the program will only take effect in 2026, but workers will have access to paid sick leave as of January. (Paid leave laws in Maine, Delaware, and Maryland will also be implemented in 2026.) Illinois also enacted a law that grants most workers in the state one week of paid leave to be used for any purpose, which will also take effect next year. Meanwhile, lawmakers are embarking on yet another initiative to pass paid leave — this time through a bipartisan working group of sorts—but as with past efforts, it could prove to be largely symbolic.
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