Saliva drug tests, restrictive employment covenants, surgical smoke evacuation among provisions in labor and industry policy law

Provisions that address issues ranging from drug testing and surgical smoke to job postings and credit card tipping are all included in the 2024 labor and industry policy law.

Sponsored by Rep. Michael Nelson (DFL-Brooklyn Park) and Sen. Jennifer McEwen (DFL-Duluth), the law takes effect Aug. 1, 2024, unless otherwise noted.

HF3947/SF3852*/CH110

Employment

Effective Jan. 1, 2025, employers must disclose in each job posting the starting salary range or fixed pay rate and a general description of all benefits and other compensation, which can include health or retirement benefits.

Also taking effect at the start of 2025, the law moves the definition of large and small employers from inclusion in the minimum wage statute to the general definitions section contained in the Minnesota Fair Labor Standards Act. It also modifies several minimum wage provisions by removing the distinctions between large and small employers, for hotels and resorts with summer work travel exchange employees, and minor employees of large employers.

And effective Aug. 1, 2024 , it will allow the Department of Labor and Industry to adjust the minimum wage rates by the lesser of the inflation-based percentage or 5%. As result of these changes, the large employer minimum wage rate, currently set at $10.85, as adjusted annually, will become the minimum wage rate applicable to most employers starting Jan. 1, 2025, unless the training wage rate for employees under age 20 or another specific statutory rate applies.

A health care employer will be required beginning Jan. 1, 2025, to adopt and implement policies to prevent exposure to surgical smoke by requiring the use of a smoke evacuation system during any surgical procedure that is likely to generate surgical smoke. (Art. 6, Secs. 1-3; Art. 7, Secs. 9, 42 )

The following provisions take effect Aug. 1, 2024:

• gratuities received by an employee through a debit, charge, credit card, or electronic payment must be credited to the pay period in which they are received by the employee and paid out in the next scheduled pay period;

• an employer can use oral fluid testing procedures as an alternative way to test when drug and alcohol or cannabis testing is requested for employees and job applicants . (Art. 7, Secs. 1, 52)

Effective July 1, 2024, the use of restrictive employment covenants will be prohibited and such covenants will be void and unenforceable. Service providers — defined as “any partnership, association, corporation, business, trust, or group of persons acting directly or indirectly as an employer or manager for work contracted or requested by a customer” — must give notice to employees about this law if their contracts contain this type of restrictive provision. Per the law, “This section does not apply to workers providing professional business consulting for computer software development and related services who are seeking employment through a service provider with the knowledge and intention of being considered for a permanent position of employment with the customer as their employer at a later date.” (Art. 2, Sec. 53 )

Construction codes and licensing

Effect May 18, 2024 , changes include:

• clarifying that licensing under Chapter 326 does not apply to planning and supervision of construction and installation work by a licensed well contractor;

• an individual who physically performs electrical work on a residential dwelling that the individual owns and occupies as a residence or owns and will occupy as a residence upon completion of construction is not required to hold or obtain a license; and

• a licensed well contractor is exempt from licensing as a plumber to do work designing and installing water service lines. (Art. 1, Secs. 1, 6, 9)

Labor standards

Taking effect Aug. 1, 2024 , unless otherwise noted, changes include:

• making the identity of labor standards violations complainants protected data, but allows the Department of Labor and Industry to disclose this data to other government agencies with the consent of the complainant;

• employers and persons requested by the commissioner to produce records must respond within the time and in the manner specified by the commissioner;

• adding employee earnings statements to records that must be retained by an employer for three years;

• any measure passed by the Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board must have the support of at least two commissioner members or the commissioner’s appointees and one member representing nursing home employers ;

• an employer must continue group insurance and health care benefits for the employee and any dependents while on pregnancy or parental leave. The length of pregnancy and parental leave cannot be reduced by any period of paid or unpaid leave taken for prenatal care medical appointments;

• updating compliance order authority, employer liability, and the amount of time an employer has to object to a compliance order (15 days) within the child labor laws. Clarifies the penalty structure for violations of child labor laws by an employer, adds liquidated damages for violations by employers for employing minors in hazardous occupations and adds retaliation protections applicable to the child protection laws; and

• prohibits restrictive employment covenants by saying that no service provider may restrict, restrain, or prohibit in any way a customer from directly or indirectly soliciting or hiring an employee of a service provider. Workers providing professional business consulting for computer software development and related services are exempt (Art. 2, Secs. 1-2, 5, 7, 9-11, 13-15, 53).

Apprenticeship policy

Among changes to the apprenticeship policy are:

• clarifying the definition of “journeyworker”;

• changing the ratio requirements of apprentices to journeyworkers to one-to-one for industries outside of the building and construction trades or any hazardous occupation;

• making an apprentice’s probationary period not more than one year or 25% of the length of the program, whichever is shorter;

• an apprenticeship agreement must be prepared by the sponsor on a form provided by the Department of Labor and Industry;

• apprentice data is private, but it may be shared with a state agency for certain purposes or the U.S. Department of Labor;

• increasing the time allowed to file an appeal regarding a violation of the terms of an apprenticeship agreement from 10 to 15 days; and

• allowing a person aggrieved by an order of deregistration to appeal to the department. If no appeal is filed within 15 days of the date of service, the order of deregistration shall become the final order. It also lays out rules for an appeal. (Art. 4, Secs. 3, 11, 13, 15, 17-18, 23)

Other areas

The law also makes open meeting requirements exempt when the Occupational Safety and Health Review Board is deliberating to decide an appeal or petition under its jurisdiction; allows the commissioner to share active and inactive civil investigative data with a city or county attorney for purposes of enforcing OSHA provisions; and makes many technical language changes to the Bureau of Mediation Services. (Art. 3, Secs. 2, 6; Art. 5, Secs. 1-34)

SF3852* / HF3947 / CH110