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”…
Read More »Each year as July rolls around, and with it the start of state and municipal fiscal years, we also see many minimum wage hikes taking effect. In the interest of keeping our readers informed of these changes, we believe that the following minimum wages increases take effect Sunday: Washington DC from $12.50 to $13.25; Chicago…
Read More »It seems prudent to advise early of changes and mandates that will take effect when new government fiscal years begin in July. As with predictive scheduling in Oregon above, July 2018 becomes a trigger date for new mandates in Rhode Island as well. The Healthy and Safe Families and Workplace Act, signed into law by…
Read More »Rhode Island has its own version of a pay equity law moving through its legislature that gives us great cause for concern. So much so that we wanted to separately identify it for you here! This week, the Senate Labor Committee unanimously recommended passage of S.2475, which allows employees to be paid differently if the…
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