July 2026 brought 11 employment law updates and compliance deadlines that employers should know about, affecting Connecticut, Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York City, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Below is each update, with links to sources and the employee handbook policies or workplace procedures it may affect. Use this list to check whether your handbook, leave policies, employment agreements, and employee notices need attention.
Key takeaways
- Updates covered warehouse quotas, substance use testing, healthcare non-competes, sick leave, family leave, workplace notices, discrimination protections, and child care support.
- Several changes apply only to particular industries, locations, or employer sizes.
- Updating your handbook may be part of the process, but some changes require separate notices, revised agreements, or adjustments to payroll and leave systems.
Connecticut: Warehouse quota protections
Connecticut SB 298, which took effect July 1, 2026, requires covered employers with at least 250 employees at one warehouse distribution center in Connecticut, or at least 1,000 employees at multiple covered centers in Connecticut, to:
- Provide covered employees with a written description of applicable production or performance quotas and any adverse employment action associated with failure to meet them
- Avoid quotas that interfere with employees’ rights to meal periods and bathroom use
- Keep required records and make them available to employees under the law’s access requirements
- Protect warehouse employees from retaliation for exercising rights under the law
Connecticut legislative overview
Action item: Determine if your warehouse operations in Connecticut are covered. If so, you’ll need to comply with the law’s requirements.
A general statement about productivity in an employee handbook won’t be enough. Covered employers must provide written descriptions of quotas and consequences for failure to meet them. Written quota descriptions for existing employees were due by August 1, 2026. Check the requirements for new hires and quota changes as well.
Learn more about Connecticut employee handbook requirements.
Maine: Substance use testing requirements
Maine LD 2110, H.P. 1425, made the following changes to employer substance use testing programs, effective July 29, 2026—Maine’s general effective date for nonemergency legislation enacted during this session:
- Applicants and employees must be given an opportunity to discuss a legitimate medical explanation for a non-negative test result with the medical review officer or confirmation laboratory representative.
- Only a medical review officer may report a confirmed positive result to an employer.
- The law updates the reasonable suspicion testing standard and makes other changes to substance use testing programs.
Maine LD 2110, Public Law Chapter 666, Maine Legislature’s effective-date information
Action item: Talk with your testing provider about LD 2110’s changes and make sure your workplace substance use testing policies and procedures reflect the updated law. This includes the process for employees to discuss legitimate medical explanations for non-negative results and applicable employee notice requirements.
Confirm whether your program is governed by Maine’s requirements, a federal testing framework, or other applicable rules.
Maine: Healthcare practitioner non-competes
Maine LD 2200, also effective July 29, 2026, made the following changes to non-compete agreements with healthcare practitioners:
- Non-competes entered into or renewed on or after the effective date are prohibited for healthcare practitioners employed by an entity in which they do not have an ownership interest. Even if a practitioner does have an ownership interest, other requirements may render a non-compete unenforceable.
- An enforceable healthcare practitioner non-compete must recognize a patient’s right to choose their own healthcare practitioner.
Maine LD 2200, Public Law Chapter 718
Action item: Before entering into, renewing, or enforcing a non-compete with a healthcare practitioner, talk with your employment attorney about LD 2200’s requirements.
Check out more of Maine’s employee handbook requirements.
Minnesota: Earned sick and safe time rules
Minnesota’s final rules for administering its earned sick and safe time (ESST) law went into effect July 6, 2026. The rules clarify how employers must provide ESST and include the following provisions:
- Eligibility: Employees who are expected to work, or do in fact work, at least 80 hours in a year for an employer in Minnesota are generally entitled to ESST.
- Timing: Accrued ESST must be credited no later than the regular payday following the end of the corresponding pay period.
- Rehire within 180 days: Previously accrued ESST that was neither used nor otherwise disbursed must generally be reinstated. Employers may generally cap reinstatement at 80 hours unless they agree to more or a higher amount is required by applicable law, policy, contract, or other legal authority.
Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry’s rules FAQs
Action item: Check the final ESST rules, including frontloading, employees’ choice about using ESST for qualifying absences, documentation requirements, and suspected misuse. Make sure your ESST/PTO policy, rehire process, leave tracking system, and payroll setup reflect the requirements.
Check out more of Minnesota’s employee handbook requirements.
Nebraska: Human trafficking posters for lodging establishments
Nebraska LB 320, effective July 18, 2026, expanded human trafficking poster requirements to hotels and similar public lodging establishments. Posters must be in English, Spanish, and any other languages the Department of Labor determines are appropriate. Nebraska Revised Statute 48-3901
LB 320 also provides for optional human trafficking awareness training and prevention procedures. Employers shouldn’t assume those practices are mandatory under this update. Nebraska LB 320
Action item: If you operate a covered lodging establishment, make sure you’re posting the required notices. Consider providing employees with training and clear steps to follow if they have human trafficking concerns.
Check out more of Nebraska’s employee handbook requirements.
New Hampshire: Physician associate non-competes
New Hampshire SB 402, Chapter 55, effective July 7, 2026, renders certain physician associate non-compete clauses unenforceable.
Specifically, the law addresses restrictions that prevent physician associates from practicing within a geographic area for a period after their professional relationship ends. SB 402 applies to new contracts and contract renewals entered into on or after its effective date.
The law renders the offending restriction unenforceable without invalidating the remaining provisions. Those provisions still need to comply with other applicable requirements. New Hampshire SB 402, Chapter 55
Action item: Before hiring a new physician associate or renewing an existing agreement—including one originally entered into before July 7—talk with your employment attorney about SB 402’s requirements.
Check out more of New Hampshire’s employee handbook requirements.
New Jersey: Expanded family leave and job protections
Effective July 17, 2026, the New Jersey Family Leave Act (NJFLA) expanded coverage to private employers with at least 15 employees worldwide, down from 30.
Employee eligibility now generally requires three months of employment and at least 250 hours worked during the preceding 12 months, rather than 12 months of employment and 1,000 hours. State and local government agencies remain covered regardless of employer size.
Eligible employees generally remain entitled to up to 12 weeks of job-protected family leave in a 24-month period. New Jersey’s July announcement
Separately, qualifying employees have job restoration rights during unpaid leave while receiving Family Leave Insurance or Temporary Disability Insurance benefits, even if they’re not otherwise covered by NJFLA or federal FMLA. New Jersey employer FAQs
Action item: Talk with your employment attorney about how these changes impact your family leave, disability leave, reinstatement, and leave coordination procedures. This is particularly important if you employ fewer than 15 employees and assumed your employees didn’t have state-level job protection during qualifying leave.
Check out more of New Jersey’s employee handbook requirements.
New York City: Protected time off rules
New York City’s final rules, effective July 23, 2026, clarify how employers must administer the expanded Earned Safe and Sick Time Act.
They address immediately available protected time off and reinstatement of unused immediately available hours when an employee is rehired during the same employer-defined calendar year. NYC Rule 7-217
The rules also address former employees’ access to electronic leave statements. Employers must provide six months of access or an appropriate written statement containing the required information. Explanation of the final rules
Reminder: The additional 32-hour bank took effect in February 2026, not July. Covered employees receive immediately available unpaid protected time off at the start of employment and each employer-defined calendar year, without proration. That year does not necessarily run January through December. NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection FAQs
Action item: Review your leave policies, payroll statements, rehire process, and access to records after employment ends. These particular requirements apply in New York City, not statewide.
See our New York employee handbook requirements guide for additional state requirements.
Tennessee: Non-competes and restrictive covenants
Tennessee HB 1034, effective July 1, 2026, prohibits employers from requiring, requesting, or enforcing non-compete agreements against employees whose annualized compensation is less than $70,000.
Use the statute’s compensation definition. For hourly employees, the law specifies a calculation of hourly rate × 40 × 52.
The law also establishes rebuttable presumptions regarding the reasonableness of certain time restrictions in restrictive covenants. A restriction that falls within a specified time period is not automatically enforceable in every respect. Tennessee HB 1034 legislative history and enacted summary
Action item: Talk with your employment attorney about how HB 1034 affects your restrictive covenant policies and practices, including forms, templates, compensation calculations, and agreements you’ve already entered into.
Check out more of Tennessee’s employee handbook requirements.
Virginia: Expanded discrimination protections
Virginia’s 2026 amendments to the Virginia Human Rights Act, effective July 1, 2026, expanded general employment discrimination coverage to employers with five or more employees under the statutory counting rules.
The definition generally requires five employees for each working day in at least 20 calendar weeks during the current or preceding calendar year. Employers of one or more domestic workers are also covered. Virginia Code § 2.2-3905
The state administrative discrimination complaint filing period is now generally two years from the alleged discriminatory practice. This does not extend every federal or state employment claim deadline. Virginia Code § 2.2-3907
Action item: Talk with your employment attorney about how the amendments affect your anti-discrimination, harassment, accommodation, and reporting policies and procedures. Smaller employers should check state coverage rather than relying only on federal employee thresholds.
Check out more of Virginia’s employee handbook requirements.
West Virginia: Employer-supported child care
West Virginia HB 4191, effective July 1, 2026, amended child care-related laws, including tax credit provisions for employer-provided and employer-sponsored child care.
Qualifying arrangements may include licensed third-party child care facilities financially supported by employers through direct payments, contracts, or subsidies. HB 4191 does not require employers to offer child care benefits. West Virginia HB 4191
Action item: If you currently provide or are considering child care benefits, talk with your legal and tax advisers about potential eligibility and requirements before assuming an arrangement qualifies for a credit.
Check out more of West Virginia’s employee handbook requirements.
Employer checklist for July 2026
- Connecticut: Review warehouse coverage, quota descriptions, employee notices, records, and anti-retaliation procedures.
- Maine: Review substance use testing policies, employee communications, and medical review procedures. Check healthcare practitioner non-competes when entering into or renewing agreements.
- Minnesota: Review ESST policies, accrual crediting, leave tracking, documentation, and rehire procedures.
- Nebraska: Confirm required lodging-establishment posters are displayed and consider awareness training.
- New Hampshire: Review new and renewed physician associate contracts.
- New Jersey: Review expanded leave eligibility, job restoration, and coordination with other leave rights and benefits.
- New York City: Review protected time off administration and access to leave records.
- Tennessee: Review restrictive covenant templates and annualized compensation calculations.
- Virginia: Review employer coverage, EEO policies, and discrimination reporting and investigation procedures.
- West Virginia: Check whether employer-supported child care arrangements qualify for available tax credits.
If your action items include updating your employee handbook, distribute the updated handbook or relevant sections and addenda, highlight significant changes, and obtain and retain employee acknowledgments where appropriate.
Some action items may instead affect agreements, forms, notices, posters, payroll practices, onboarding and offboarding processes, or recordkeeping.
What to do next
Determine which laws affect your business, taking into account where employees physically perform work, including remote workers. Then:
- Review relevant policies, agreements, and procedures.
- Review HR, payroll, and leave-related systems and processes.
- Provide required notices and workplace postings.
- Communicate changes to affected managers and employees.
- Retain copies of relevant documents and distribution records.
While we endeavor to summarize significant employment-related legal developments each month, laws change. Before acting, check the law, regulation, and current agency guidance.
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Frequently asked questions
What employment law updates affected employers in July 2026?
Our July roundup includes warehouse quotas, substance use testing, healthcare non-competes, sick and family leave, lodging-establishment posters, restrictive covenants, discrimination protections, and employer-supported child care.
Coverage depends on the particular law, industry, location, and employer size. Refer to each source to determine applicability and compliance requirements.
Should I update my handbook midyear or wait until January?
While many employers conduct an annual handbook review in January, significant legal developments may warrant an earlier update.
If a law affects your handbook, review and revise the relevant policy or addendum in time to meet applicable requirements. If a deadline has already passed, determine your current obligations and address any gap promptly.
Do these changes apply to every employer in the listed states?
No. Connecticut’s quota requirements, for example, concern covered warehouse employers, and the New York leave rules discussed here apply in New York City.
Start with the places where employees work, then check each law’s coverage requirements.
(This summary is general information, not legal advice. Laws may be amended or delayed, so confirm requirements with the sources linked above or your employment attorney.)