Within the past few months the Obama administration has been issuing numerous regulatory actions that affect the workplace. As a company, it is vital to be aware of the new regulatory activities that are in place and to implement them into the human resources department. There are two developments that have just recently reached their effective dates and one that has an effective date coming up soon. The first development that individuals within the HR department should be aware of is the Federal contractor obligations on human trafficking. This new regulatory action was extended to an effective date of March 2, 2015 and works on strengthing the protection against human trafficking within federal contracting. This rule requires contractors to prove that they have implemented a compliance plan and procedures to help identify and remove human trafficking from their organizations. This rule also prohibits contractors from charging recruitment fees. Another regulatory action that HR needs to be aware of is the FMLA has updated the definition of “spouse”. The Department of Labor has ruled that the definition of “spouse” under the Family and Medical Leave Act or FMLA to include same-sex marriage. This ruling became effective March 27, 2015. The final regulatory action that the HR department needs to be aware of is the immigration-related employment issues. This ruling extended employment authorization eligibility to H-4 dependent spouses of certain H-1B visa holders who are in the process of obtaining their green cards. This ruling will become effective May 26, 2015. Each of these regulatory actions contain necessary information and rules that companies will need to follow and therefore the HR department should be prepared on the rules of each of these regulations as well as future regulations.
Attn: HR – New Regulations
