Ground rules: three major employment law changes that may impact your business.

• Author: Jepson, Christina
• Position: Legal Brief

This article will cover three big changes in employment law this last year impacting Utah employers: (1) the enactment and then pause on federal overtime and minimum salary rules; (2) the enactment of the new Utah non-compete law, and (3) the enactment of the new Utah accommodation requirements regarding pregnancy.

Federal overtime and minimum salary rules

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas granted a preliminary injunction stopping the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) from implementing new overtime regulations that were set to begin on December 1, 2016. The current salary threshold of $23,660 for most exempt employees would have been raised to $47,476 if the new rule had taken effect. Employers had the option of raising salaries to meet the new exempt threshold or reclassifying exempt employees to nonexempt and paying overtime.

The preliminary injunction applies nationwide and is intended simply to preserve the status quo until the court can resolve the issues raised in the lawsuit. It is important to remember that the merits of the lawsuit and whether or not the new regulation will stand will not be resolved until later.

Employers are under no legal obligation to unwind changes they have already implemented. Though, if an employer is in a position to reverse changes it can legally do so. These employers must weigh the pros and cons of unwinding changes, looking at impacts to employee morale, maintaining a competitive edge and budgetary issues.

If an employer has not made any changes, it may consider holding off for the time being. Some employers may still choose to implement scheduled changes, especially if the company is taking the opportunity to address misclassification issues or simply wishes to avoid uncertainty with its employees and not rock the boat with already communicated changes.

Utah non-compete legislation

In 2016, the Utah Legislature passed the Post-Employment Restrictions Act, which applies to any non-compete agreements entered into starting May 10, 2016. After this date, non-compete agreements cannot exceed one year. If an agreement is over the one-year limitation, the agreement is "void," suggesting that a court cannot fix the agreement by limiting it to one year.

Also, if an employer tries to enforce a non-compete which is invalid, the employer is liable to the employee for arbitration costs, court costs and/or attorneys' fees.

Besides including non-competes in agreements with employees, companies...