Many new state and local employment laws take effect in 2015, including those addressing minimum wage, mandatory paid sick leave, ban-the-box laws and other laws providing enhanced protections to employees. Employers should ensure they comply with all applicable new employment laws in their jurisdictions and revise their payroll practices and other policies and procedures as necessary.

Practical Law has published resources to help employers prepare for the regulatory and statutory changes. All laws are effective January 1, 2015, unless otherwise noted.

Although the federal minimum wage remains at $7.25 per hour, the minimum wage in more than 20 states, the District of Columbia and local jurisdictions increased above the federal requirement. Most took effect on January 1, 2015, with more increases effective later this year. Practical Law recently published Practice Note, State Minimum Wage Chart: Overview with detailed information for employers about the minimum wage in each of the 50 states.

States with newly increased hourly minimum wages in 2015 include:

The District of Columbia and many cities, including San Francisco, San Diego and Chicago, also raised the local minimum wage for workers. For more information, see Legal Updates:

Minimum wage rates for tipped employees also increased in many of these jurisdictions (see Wage and Hour Laws: State Q&A Tool: Question 4 and Practice Note, Tipped Employees under the FLSA). Employers should review their current wage structures to ensure they comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws. Employers also should update their workplace posters to reflect the current minimum wage and other applicable employment laws.

For more information, see Federal Notice Posting Requirements Checklist and Wage and Hour Laws: State Q&A Tool: Questions 11 and 16.

California, Massachusetts and several cities enacted new paid sick leave laws in 2014. Connecticut changed its existing law. The District of Columbia has cleared the way to enforcement of its paid sick leave law passed in 2013. Many more state and local jurisdictions have pending legislation to expand paid sick leave benefits for their employees. Employers must monitor continuing developments and ensure their policies and procedures remain in compliance with applicable state and local law wherever they employ workers.

While they differ in their details, paid sick leave laws generally require covered employers to provide a certain number of hours of paid sick time to employees who meet eligibility requirements. For more information on new paid sick leave laws passed in 2014 that are either effective now or later in 2015, see Legal Updates:

For more information on state leave laws generally, see Leave Laws: State Q&A Tool and Leave Policy Language: State Q&A Tool.

Many states, the District of Columbia and other jurisdictions have increased efforts to restrict or prevent employers from inquiring about an applicant's criminal history on employment applications. In 2014, several jurisdictions passed "ban-the-box" legislation, including:

In addition, Chicago passed legislation, effective January 1, 2015, expanding the Illinois ban-the-box law to cover certain public agencies and employers with fewer than 15 employees that are licensed to do business or operating within Chicago (see Ogletree Deakins: Chicago Expands the Illinois "Ban the Box" Law to Smaller Employers and City Agencies).

For more information, see Background Check Laws: State Q&A Tool and Hiring Requirements: State Q&A Tool.

Many jurisdictions enacted laws in 2014 expanding other workplace protections for employees. Laws were passed that:

For more information about state laws protecting employees, see Anti-discrimination Laws: State Q&A Tool.