On April 26, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published the much-anticipated final rule that will increase the minimum salary for many exempt employees. The increase will take effect in two steps. If you’d like to review the regulations yourself, they are available here—the relevant changes start on page 130 of the downloadable PDF.
Under the new rule, exempt executive, administrative, and professional employees (often referred to collectively as “EAP” employees) must be paid at least:
Teachers and practicing doctors and lawyers are exempt from these minimum salary requirements under federal law but may be subject to different state minimums. School specific minimums apply to academic administrative employees.
Exempt computer employees can be paid on a salary or hourly basis. If salaried, they’re considered part of the EAP group and need to make the minimums listed above. Alternatively, they can be paid at least $27.63 per hour—this hourly rate was not changed by the rule.
Employees who are exempt under the HCE exemption must be paid at least the minimums listed above on a salary basis and receive total annual compensation of at least:
As usual, if a state law requires higher minimum salaries than what is required by the federal rule, the state minimums must be followed.
The rule implements automatic updates to the minimum salary levels every three years starting July 1, 2027. We don’t know what the future minimums will be, but employers will have at least 150 days’ notice before those changes take effect.
The last time the DOL attempted a significant change to the salary minimums, the rule was challenged and ultimately blocked just weeks before taking effect. While we have no way of predicting if that will happen again, it’s very likely that this final rule will be litigated.
Employers have the following options:
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA), Title II, Division BB, included a new annual reporting requirement for group health plans and health insurers to report certain specified data related to prescription drugs and other healthcare spending, known as the prescription drug data collection (RxDC). The 2023 reference year (calendar year) RxDC data report is due by June 3, 2024. Typically, carriers, third-party administrators, or pharmacy benefit managers submit the data on behalf of a plan sponsor and therefore may request additional information from employers to complete the process.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published the 2023 reference year instructions. The key updates include:
Addition of enrollment column to D6: A new column to collect enrollment data has been added to section D6.
Read more on the CMS Prescription Drug Data Collection (RxDC) webpage, and see the GHP: Prescription Drug Data Collection and Reporting page.
Beginning July 1, 2024, employers will be prohibited from asking for an applicant’s age, birth date, or school attendance or graduation dates on an initial job application. These limitations don’t apply to applications for jobs that will be performed entirely outside of Colorado.
However, employers can ask applicants to verify their compliance with certain age requirements imposed by the following:
This means you can ask for a yes or no answer to a question like, “This job involves serving liquor and requires that you be at least 21 years old. Do you meet the age requirement?”
Additionally, employers can require an applicant provide additional application materials with their initial application, but only if they notify the applicant that they can redact information that identifies their age, birth date, or dates of schooling.
The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment has provided additional guidance on the law in INFO #9B.
The state has expanded the definition of race in its antidiscrimination statute to include hair length. If you have dress or grooming policies that regulate hair length, consider whether they’re absolutely necessary for your organization. If you believe they are, consider consulting with an attorney to ensure they don’t run afoul of this law. This law was passed on June 3, 2024, and took effect immediately.
Update your Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) policy, and any other policies that include protected classes, to include hair length in the definition of race (if you include this level of detail).
Employers are prohibited from discriminating or taking adverse action against employees who donate an organ. The new law doesn’t specifically require that employers provide organ donation leave, but employees who donate an organ should be allowed to use any leaves that a similarly situated employee would be entitled to, such as a personal leave of absence. This law was passed on June 3, 2024, and took effect immediately.
Update your Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) policy, and any other policies that include protected classes, to include organ donors.
7/31 – Form 5500 Filing Deadline (calendar year plans)
7/31 – PCORI Fees Due
8/1 – VETS-4212 Filing Open (federal contractors)
9/30 – Summary Annual Report (SAR) Deadline for Calendar Year Plans
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