Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee, who ascended to the corner office when former Governor Gina Raimondo was confirmed as U.S. Secretary of Commerce under the Biden administration, last week signed legislation mandating equal pay across the Ocean State. The Pay Equity Act prohibits an employer from paying wages to any employees at a rate less…
Read More »As we come out of the coronavirus pandemic isolation, it seems timely to remind ourselves of ways we can help support others who’ve not been as fortunate. One perfect way would be to support the Joy in Childhood Foundation (JiCF). Next Wednesday, July 14 is the deadline to register for next Saturday’s Polo for Joy…
Read More »At the federal level, the push for a $15 minimum wage is still hung up by the opposition of moderate democrat Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ). The two moderates have agreed that the federal minimum wage (currently $7.25/hour) should be raised, but balk at the $15 figure. Sinema last week joined Mitt…
Read More »As the effort to more than double the federal minimum wage across the country gathers steam with a democratic trifecta at the federal level – albeit a slim one, tone-deaf state politicians continue to pile on small business woes. A couple of examples, as referenced above while the Pennsylvania legislature is putting over $900 million…
Read More »President-elect Joseph Biden named two elected officials from New England to his Cabinet yesterday with the appointments of Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo as incoming Commerce Secretary and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as Secretary of Labor. Both positions will require Senate confirmation. In her 6th year as governor of the Ocean State and the first…
Read More »Despite the economic trauma that the pandemic and those state shutdown orders have caused across the country, Rhode Island has another surprise coming for small businesses in the Ocean State. Effective October 1, 2020, the state minimum wage will increase $1 per hour on the 1st of the month thanks to legislation signed by Governor…
Read More »In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, states and local communities are taking dramatically different approaches to helping small businesses recover from the shutdown and the general economic turmoil that the pandemic has yielded. In that vein, several have announced small business grant and loan programs in the past (New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and…
Read More »For the second straight year, the Rhode Island state senate has passed a new increase in the state minimum wage that could take effect on October 1, 2020 – just over one month before Election Day. The proposal, which increases the current state minimum of $10.50 per hour to $11.50 per hour, must still pass…
Read More »Legislators and environmental activists across the nation continue to target single-use plastic bags, straws and other plastic products for elimination as the new legislative sessions begin. Massachusetts will most assuredly advance a plastic bag ban, although 135 communities already have a local ban of some sort on their books. The state senate approved a sweeping…
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Many franchisors utilize so-called “no-poach” clauses in their franchise agreements, and such clauses may be structured in a way that limits a franchisee’s ability to hire employees of other, same-brand franchisees and/or employees of the franchisor. Recently, a group of state attorneys general and prominent legislators began pressing franchisors to cease use of so-called “no-poach”…
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