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H.F. No. 2536 - Women's Economic Security Act
 
Author: Senator Sandra L. Pappas
 
Prepared By:
 
Date: April 22, 2014



 

Article 1-Women’s Economic Security Act

Section 1 names the bill as the “Women’s Economic Security Act.

Article 2 - Economic Security

Section 1 adds a nonvoting advisor to the Governor’s Workforce Development Council who must have expertise in assisting women in obtaining employment in nontraditional occupations.

Section 2 requires outcome reports for workforce programs administered by the Commissioner of Employment and Economic Development to include, among other things, gender pay gaps within occupations.

Section 3 creates a grant program to increase the number of women in high-wage, nontraditional occupations to be administered by the Commissioner of Employment and Economic Development.

Section 4 requires the Commissioner of Employment and Economic Development to operate a women’s entrepreneurs business development competitive grant program to facilitate the creation and expansion of high-growth, high-revenue, women-owned businesses in high economic impact fields. 

Section 5 requires a business to have an equal pay certificate approved by the Commissioner of Human Rights to enter into a contract or agreement in excess of $500,000 with a state agency or certain metropolitan agencies.  The business must have 40 or more full time employees in this state or in the state where it has its primary place of business.  There are a few exceptions to the requirement.  The section is effective August 1, 2015.

Section 6 requires the Commissioner of Management and Budget to report to the legislature on the potential for a state-administered retirement savings plan for employees without access to certain retirement plans.  The plan must provide for no state liability.

Section 7 makes a variety of appropriations for the programs created in Article 2.

Article 3 - Employment Protections

Section 1 limits the authority of an employer to restrict the disclosure by an employee of the employee’s wages.  An employer is prohibited from taking any adverse employment action against an employee for disclosing the employee’s wage or the wages of a co-employee that have been voluntarily disclosed. There are four provisos to the prohibition including that an employee may not disclose proprietary, trade secret, or privileged information and that wage disclosure may not be made of other employees wages to a competitor of an employer.

Section 2 amends current law regulating an employer’s obligation to nursing mothers with respect to expressing breast milk.  The location for expressing milk must be other than a bathroom or toilet stall, must be private and secure, and must have access to an electrical outlet.  An employer may not retaliate against an employee for asserting rights or remedies under this section of law.  The Department of Labor and Industry is charged to enforce the law and to assess fines for failure to timely correct violations.

Section 3 amends the definition of “employee” for the purpose of the parenting leave law.  The amendment eliminates the requirement that an employee have worked for the 12 consecutive months immediately preceding a request for a leave and replaces it with a requirement the employee have worked for the employer for 12 months prior to the leave request whether or not the months are consecutive.

Section 4 amends the current parenting leave law.  The current six-week maximum leave duration is increased to 12 weeks.  The scope of the leave is expanded to include leave for a female employee for prenatal care, or incapacity due to pregnancy, childbirth or related health conditions.  Under current law leave is limited to an adoptive or natural parent in conjunction with the birth or adoption of a child.  An employer may require an employee to give reasonable notice of the date and estimated duration of the leave.  In general, leave for an adoptive or birth parent must commence within 12 months of the birth or adoption.

Section 5 authorizes the use of sick leave for care of a grandchild.  The use of sick leave is expanded to include its use for “safety leave”.   Safety leave is leave for assistance to or for the employee or relatives of the employee made necessary due to incidents of stalking, sexual assault, or domestic abuse.  Leave need only be granted for a reasonable period of time.  Leave under this section is available only if the employer provides sick leave and there is not a mandate that an employer must provide sick leave. 

Section 6 requires an employer to provide reasonable accommodations to an employee for medical or physical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth.  Except for certain minor accommodations, an employee must provide written documentation of the medical necessity for the accommodation from medical providers.  Except for certain minor accommodations, an employer is not required to provide an accommodation if it would impose an undue hardship on the operation of the employer’s business.  An employer may not retaliate against an employee for obtaining or seeking an accommodation.

Section 7 specifies a number of leaves which if taken, would reduce the leave granted under the parental leave law so that a total leave does not exceed 12 weeks.

Section 8 amends current law that provides that quitting work due to domestic abuse does not disqualify an individual from unemployment compensation benefits.  The law is expanded to include quits because of sexual assault or stalking.  The law is also amended so that quits due to assaults, abuse, or stalking are decided upon all the facts and circumstances rather than a limited set of evidence.

Section 9 parallels section 8 and makes similar changes to law that defines misconduct under the unemployment compensation law.

JCF/syl

 
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