Six New Rule Changes That Impact Businesses
The regulations include overtime rules for salaried employees and higher minimum wages in 14 states.
Jan 02, 2020
WASHINGTON—A number of regulations went into effect January 1 that will impact retailers and other businesses, Yahoo! Finance reports. Here are six new rules with the potential to have far-reaching effects on businesses in 2020:
1. China reduces import tariffs on more than 850 products. These range from avocados to frozen pork to semiconductors. The Chinese government is lowering the collected duties as its own economy decelerates amid trade talks with the United States.
2. Salaried workers have new overtime rules. Last year, the U.S. Labor Department issued a final rule that made more employees eligible for overtime compensation. Essentially, the regulation means that non-exempt workers earning under $35,568 annually “will be entitled to time-and-a-half overtime pay, regardless of their duties.”
3. Fourteen states have hiked their minimum wages, with an additional seven states experiencing an automatic cost-of-living raise to the minimum threshold. That’s nearly 7 million employees who got a pay raise on January 1, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Three more states and Washington, D.C., will increase their minimum wage during 2020.
Last year, CNBC reported 21 states raised their minimum wage. “In 2019, pay growth has been sluggish, but the fastest for low-wage workers,” said Daniel Zhao, a senior economist for Glassdoor. Last summer, the House passed legislation that would raise the federal minimum wage—at $7.25 an hour since 2009—but the Senate refused to consider a similar bill.
This year, experts predict the momentum for a higher minimum wage will continue. “They’re feeling they can’t rely on the federal government to raise wages, so they’re doing it on their own,” Yanett Lathrop, a researcher and policy analyst for NELP, told USA Today. Currently, 29 states have pay floors higher than the federal minimum wage.
4. Volcker rule revisions come into effect. The changes revolve around simplifying compliance requirements for companies without major activity in trading.
5. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is now in effect. The new law centers around giving consumers easier opt-outs for companies collecting their data. Congress is also considering tackling privacy legislation this year.
6. The United States takes the G7 presidency this year for its one-year rotation. President Trump announced the G7 summit will be held at Camp David, and he recommended that Russia be re-admitted to the group.
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