Employment law enforcement: How Payroll’s being impacted by changes Federal, State and Local Updates to Laws Affecting Companies If you’re concerned that the latest regs from the Dept. of Labor (DOL) will have a significant impact on your responsibilities and your company’s bottom line, you aren’t alone. Many Payroll pros are in the same boat, according to this year’s Littler Annual Employment Survey, conducted by employment law firm Littler. In fact, DOL enforcement of federal employment laws was the top regulatory concern cited by employers surveyed: 78% of participants said this will have a moderate or significant impact on their workplace. One of respondents’ biggest concerns is dealing with the new salary threshold the DOL’s proposed for exempt employees. In advance of the agency releasing its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, your peers were already preparing for an increased OT threshold in several different ways. Most respondents (40%) were reviewing their job descriptions to make sure all current employees were classified correctly. Others decided to audit their pay practices to see which workers would most likely be affected by the new threshold (35%) or implement more accurate timekeeping systems (15%). Some employers (29%) had already made changes in advance of the initial 2016 OT rule proposed by the Obama administration, so they weren’t taking additional action until after the DOL released its new proposal. In addition, 13% of employers were currently re-evaluating and adjusting changes they’d already made prior to the 206 rule. Almost one-third of employers (32%) decided to be more cautious and take a “wait-and-see” approach to any preparations for a new threshold due to all the delays and changes throughout the lawmaking process. Hassles with local regs Payroll pros know that it’s not just the DOL they have to worry about when it comes to the employment law-state and local laws count too. Per the survey, the state and local law updates that have created the most compliance headaches included new paid sick leave laws (69%), minimum wages changes (39%), gender pay equity laws (35%) and predictive scheduling legislation (19%). More info: bit.ly/lttlersurvey582