Stay up to speed on proposed employment laws currently under consideration by the Iowa legislature!

With the flurry of legal developments at the federal level, we shouldn’t lose sight of the legislative developments occurring in Iowa. There are a number of proposed laws that would have a significant impact on Iowa employers.

Treatment of adoptive parent employees. House File 248 proposes a change to Iowa’s Wage Payment Collection Act related to employee benefits for adoptive parents. The proposed law would require employers to provide the parents of an adopted child with the same benefits and policies the employer provides to parents of a newborn child. This protection would extend to children placed for adoption who are up to six years old.

Pay Transparency and Equal Pay. Senate File 187 proposes major changes to Iowa’s equal pay law. It was filed by minority party members and, at this point, does not appear likely to advance. However, it is consistent with efforts in other states to address wage secrecy policies by employers, and may be a concept we see reintroduced in the future. Although this law is unlikely to pass, employers should be aware that overly broad wage secrecy policies may be inconsistent with employee speech rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

  • Prohibiting employers from requiring employees from sharing information about any employee’s wages or benefits. Many employers treat salary and benefit information as confidential business information. This law would do away with any such protection.
  • Prohibiting employers from seeking an applicant’s salary history information, including information about their compensation and benefits, without written authorization from the applicant. There is currently no such limitation under Iowa law.
  • Requiring employers to post the “minimum rate of pay” of an open position for either employees or independent contractors. There is currently no such requirement under Iowa law. Employer would be prohibited from paying an employee less than the advertised rate of pay.
  • Modifying the affirmative defenses available to employers under Iowa’s equal pay act, with a significant update to the “catch-all” defense that permits pay differentials for any reason other than a person’s membership in a protected class. The new “catch-all” affirmative defense would only be permitted if an employer first demonstrates the non-discriminatory reason for the pay differential is non-discriminatory and is “job related with respect to the position in question; and is consistent with business necessity.” A plaintiff could then overcome the affirmative defense by showing “an alternative business practice exists that would serve the same business purpose.” Effectively, this law would require an employer to prove an affirmative defense to a disparate impact claim, which would be an extraordinarily burdensome process for employers defending legitimate reasons for pay differentials.

Pregnancy Accommodations. Senates File 134 and 187 propose a law that would create a new accommodation framework for pregnant employees that generally aligns with the federal version (the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act).

  • Requiring employers to provide a reasonable accommodation for any “medical condition relating to the employee’s pregnancy or childbirth.”
  • Imposing a penalty of $750 for each violation of the act

Modifications to Iowa’s drug-testing statute. Iowa House Study File 26 and Senate File 110 would:

  • Permit employers to designate which positions are determined “safety-sensitive” and subject to less-stringent drug-testing requirements than other positions
  • Permit employers to offer employees an alternative to providing employees notice of a positive test through certified mail (an “in-person exchange of written materials” or “electronic notification”).

New whistleblower protections for medical practitioners, health care institutions, and health care payors for “the exercise of conscience.” Senate File 220 would:

  • Prohibit any adverse action taken against any licensed healthcare professional who refuses to participate in a “health care service” on the basis of “conscience.”
  • The concept of “conscience” is broadly defined to include “published ethical, moral, or religious guidelines or directives, mission statements, constitutions, articles of incorporation, bylaws, policies, or regulations.”

None of these have yet been passed, but you can stay tuned to see which of these bills survive funnel week next month.