Related BLS programs | Related articles
State labor legislation enacted in 1988
Richard R. Nelson
State labor legislation enacted in 1988 covered a wide variety of employment standards subjects and included several significant new laws.1 The year was also notable for several important general election ballot initiatives. Among these measures addressed were both traditional labor standards fields such as minimum wage and child labor protection and bans on mandatory retirement and other forms of employment discrimination, and the newer subjects of workplace AIDS and drug testing, parental leave, and asbestos abatement.2
Wages. Minimum wage continued as a major issue in 1988 with new legislation or wage orders increasing minimum rates in Guam, Kansas, Maine, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, the Virgin Islands, the District of Columbia for employees in hotel and restaurant occupations, and Puerto Rico for employees in the hotel and construction industries. An additional seven States had rate increases in 1988 as the result of prior legislation. Also, an initiative on the Washington State ballot in the November general election to provide for an increase in the State rate and to extend coverage to farmworkers and domestic service employees was approved by the voters.
This excerpt is from an article published in the January 1989 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. The full text of the article is available in Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format (PDF). See How to view a PDF file for more information.
Read
abstract Download full text in PDF (2,120K)
Footnotes
1 The legislatures did not meet in
regular sessions in Arkansas, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, and Texas. A regular
session in North Carolina did not enact significant legislation in the fields covered by
this article. This article is based on information received by November 7, 1988.
2 Unemployment insurance and workers' compensation are not within the scope of this article. Separate articles on each of these subjects are also published in the issue of the Monthly Labor Review.
Within Monthly Labor Review Online:
Welcome | Current
Issue | Index | Subscribe
| Archives
Exit Monthly Labor Review Online:
BLS Home | Publications & Research
Papers
