7 Changes To Labor And Employment Legal Standards In 2023

• Published date: 19 February 2024
• Subject Matter: Employment and HR, Health & Safety, Employee Benefits & Compensation, Employee Rights/ Labour Relations
• Law Firm: Nyemaster Goode
• Author: Thomas M. Cunningham

In the first session of 2024's Law & the Workplace webinars, labor and employment attorney Tom Cunningham reviewed 2023 legal changes for employers. He also made predictions for the coming year. Here are highlights from his client-exclusive January presentation.

For labor and employment law, 2023 was a year of rapid and aggressive change.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) implemented changes that will be consequential for nonunionized workplaces. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) clarified rules for classifying independent contractors. It also turned greater attention to Iowa child labor laws.

State and federal courts also handed down decisions that change how employers handle legal issues in the workplace.

1. Individual Liability Under the Iowa Civil Rights Act

A 2023 Iowa Supreme Court decision found that individual liability cannot extend to coworkers in hostile work environment cases.

In 1999, Vivian v. Madison, 601 N.W.2d 872, 872 (Iowa 1999) decided that managers, supervisors, and sometimes coworkers could be held individually liable under the Iowa Civil Rights Act (ICRA). Individual liability was in addition to the employing entity's liability.

In 2021, Rumsey v. Woodgrain Millwork, Inc., 962 N.W.2d 9 (Iowa 2021) addressed the contours of individual liability. The case dealt with alleged discriminatory decision-making. It found that individual liability under the ICRA extends only to those persons who are personally involved in, and have the ability to effectuate, an adverse employment action, regardless of status as "supervisors," e.g., those with final decision-making authority.

In a suit alleging a racially hostile work environment, an employee attempted to hold a coworker liable. The Iowa Supreme Court found in Valdez v. West Des Moines Cmty. Sch. Dist., 992 N.W.2d 613 (2023), that individual liability under the ICRA does not extend to a coworker in a case alleging maintenance of a hostile work environment by the employer.

The decision contains three elements of importance to employers:

• It recognized individual liability under the ICRA only for allegedly discriminatory decisions resulting in adverse action.
• Hostile environments are alleged to be maintained by the employer. Liability based on coworker conduct exists only when the employer knew or reasonably should have known of conduct and failed to take prompt appropriate remedial action.
• Coworkers do not have the ability to effectuate the hostile environment.

2. Iowa Child Labor Laws

The Iowa legislature made significant changes to the state's child labor laws. Among the extensive changes is an increase in the number of hours per day and per week that 14- and 15-year-old employees can work. The legislature also expanded the kinds of activities minors can be hired to do. For example, under limited conditions, 16- and 17-year-olds may serve alcoholic beverages.

Many of the state child labor law changes are inconsistent with federal regulations. The best practice for employers is to follow the stricter federal law.

The DOL will place more scrutiny on enforcement in Iowa. A number of federal investigations into child labor issues are active. Investigations come with potentially expensive fines, penalties, and defense costs.

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