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January  2003, Vol. 126, No.1

State labor legislation enacted in 2002

Richard R. Nelson

States enacted important labor legislation in 2002 covering a variety of employment standards. Minimum wage rates were increased in a number of States, a first-in-the-Nation law provided for paid family and medical leave, changes were made in several child labor laws including a revised prohibition on door-to-door sales, and several States enacted legislation to protect the jobs of reserve or guard members returning from active duty.

Trends continued with additional States placing limits on mandatory overtime for nurses, banning employment discrimination on the basis of genetic testing, providing immunity from liability for furnishing information on job performance, providing job protection for crime victims and victims of sexual assault, and addressing issues of workplace violence and security.

Six State legislatures did not meet in regular session in 2002, and some met only for budget purposes.¹

This article summarizes significant State labor legislation enacted in 2002. It does not, however, cover legislation on occupational safety and health, employment and training, labor relations, employee background clearance, economic development, and local living wage ordinances. Articles reporting on changes in unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation laws appear elsewhere in this issue.

This excerpt is from an article published in the January 2003 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.

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Footnotes
1 The Arkansas, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, and Texas legislatures did not meet in regular session in 2002. The District of Columbia, Indiana, Iowa, and North Carolina did not enact significant legislation in the fields covered by this article. This article is based on information received by Nov. 8, 2002.

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