Seven employment law updates and compliance deadlines affected employers in California, Louisiana, Maine, and Utah in May 2026. Here’s what changed and which employee handbook policies, agreements, or workplace procedures may need attention.
May 2026 employment law updates at a glance
| Jurisdiction | Date | Update |
|---|---|---|
| California | May 13, 2026 deadline | Pay data reports for reporting year 2025 |
| Louisiana | May 11, 2026 | Employment certificates for minors |
| Maine | May 1, 2026 | Paid Family and Medical Leave benefits began |
| Utah | May 6, 2026 | Healthcare religious belief and conscience protections |
| Utah | May 6, 2026 | Employer-required medical examination expenses |
| Utah | May 6, 2026 | Healthcare services platform coverage |
| Utah | May 6, 2026 | Healthcare worker non-compete and nonsolicitation restrictions |
Some of these updates affect onboarding, leave, medical examinations, and restrictive covenants. Others require action outside your employee handbook, such as filing a report, reviewing employment agreements, or changing how you pay for required medical examinations.
California: Pay data reporting deadline
California private employers with 100 or more payroll employees, including at least one employee in California, were required to submit their pay data report to the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) for reporting year 2025 by May 13, 2026.
Some employers may also be required to complete CRD’s separate reporting requirement for labor contractor employees if they’re private client employers with 100 or more labor contractor employees, including at least one in California. Learn more about who must complete CRD’s reporting requirements using CRD’s reporting handbook.
CRD’s updated pay data report includes new data points, such as exemption status, employment type, and total number of weeks worked during the reporting period. Make sure you use the correct reporting form and instructions for the applicable reporting year, and do not just re-file last year’s report! Check out CRD’s reporting-year 2025 pay data report FAQs for more information.
Action item: Determine if your company was required to file CRD’s pay data report and/or labor contractor employee report for reporting year 2025 and, if so, whether your company complied with the May 13, 2026 deadline. If you realize after the fact that your company didn’t file a required report or filed an inaccurate report, check out CRD’s instructions for filing/correcting pay data reports.
Note: Updating your employee handbook is not enough, and you will still need to make sure your company complies with CRD’s reporting requirements!
Learn more about California employee handbook requirements.
Louisiana: Changes to employment certificates for minors
Louisiana HB 232, enacted as Act 61, took effect on May 11, 2026 and changed how employers obtain employment certificates for minor employees. Louisiana legislative history
Specifically, HB 232 removed schools’ and school boards’ previous role in issuing, approving, and maintaining employment certificates. Employers should use the department-provided certificate form and make sure they’re checking all of the required information, including:
- The minor’s signature
- Consent from the minor’s parent/guardian
- Required proof of age
- The name of the prospective employer
Note that a minor’s employment certificate will only be valid for the employer named on the certificate. HB 232, Act 61
Action item: If you employ minors, review your policies and procedures regarding employing minors, especially your onboarding process/checklist, to make sure they comply with HB 232. Keep in mind that changes to the certificate process don’t remove other restrictions on employing minors, such as job and hours limitations.
Later implementation update: According to Louisiana Works, school access to its Employment Certificate System ended July 24, 2026. Make sure you’re following the agency’s current process. Louisiana Works youth employment guidance
Learn more about Louisiana employee handbook requirements.
Maine: Paid Family and Medical Leave benefits
Maine’s Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program began providing benefits for qualifying leave beginning May 1, 2026.
Under Maine PFML, eligible employees can take up to 12 weeks of PFML leave per benefit year for certain reasons and receive partial wage replacement during their leave. Qualifying reasons include:
- The employee’s own serious health condition
- Caring for a family member with a serious health condition
- Bonding with a new child
- Qualifying military family needs
- Safe leave
Separate from PFML benefit eligibility, covered employees who’ve worked for their Maine employer for at least 120 consecutive days before taking PFML leave receive job protection. Maine Department of Labor
Action item: Review your leave policies/procedures, employee handbooks, and employee-facing notices to make sure employees know about PFML and how to request/use PFML leave and benefits.
Don’t assume your current FMLA policy/notice will cover PFML! You’ll also want to make sure your policies/procedures regarding PFML coordinate with your other leave policies/procedures and any other applicable federal/state/local laws.
Learn more about Maine employee handbook requirements.
Utah: Employer-required medical examination expenses
Effective date: May 6, 2026
Utah HB 130 changed how employers pay for employee/applicant medical exams, including drug tests, required as a condition of pre-employment, employment, or continued employment.
Under HB 130, employers can’t:
- Make an employee/applicant pay for a covered exam and then reimburse them later
- Require an employee to use leave for a covered exam
- Require an employee to attend a covered exam outside their shift without pay
HB 130 has an exception for certain appointments related to taking or returning from medical leave following an injury or illness outside the course and scope of employment. Don’t assume every return-to-work appointment falls under the employer-payment requirement. Utah HB 130
Action item: Review your policies/procedures regarding employee/applicant medical exams and drug tests, including how you pay providers and how you record employees’ time for covered exams.
Utah: Healthcare religious belief and conscience protections
Effective date: May 6, 2026
Utah SB 174 gives covered healthcare providers certain rights to refuse to provide or participate in specific healthcare services that conflict with their religious beliefs or conscience, subject to conditions and limitations.
Providers exercising these rights must give advance notice to their employer, healthcare institution, or both, as applicable. The law also requires patient-facing notices on providers’ websites and in reception areas, along with disclosures by applicable licensed providers.
While SB 174 prohibits certain adverse actions against providers exercising protected rights, it does not override federal law or permit withholding required medical screening and stabilizing treatment in an emergency department. Utah SB 174
Action item: Review your advance-notice, staffing, patient-notice, and disclosure procedures, along with protections against retaliation. Make sure managers understand both the rights and their limits.
Utah: Healthcare worker non-compete restrictions
Effective date: May 6, 2026
Utah HB 270 generally prohibits new healthcare non-compete agreements with workers covered by the law’s definition of “healthcare worker” on or after May 6, 2026.
Limited exceptions include certain severance agreements and agreements connected with the sale of a business. HB 270 also prohibits new nonsolicitation agreements that prevent a covered healthcare worker from informing patients of the worker’s current or future place of employment.
While HB 270 doesn’t automatically make all pre-May 6 healthcare worker non-competes unenforceable, that doesn’t mean all of them are enforceable. Utah HB 270
Action item: Review your restrictive covenant policies/practices and patient communication procedures with your employment attorney before issuing, amending, or enforcing agreements.
Utah: Healthcare services platform coverage
Effective date: May 6, 2026
Utah SB 89 amended the healthcare services platform laws to exclude physicians and certain advanced practice providers, including physician assistants, advanced practice registered nurses, and certified nurse midwives.
The platform laws already restricted non-competes, fees tied to covered workers accepting employment with a provider or facility, and interference with covered workers finding shifts or employment elsewhere. The May amendment changed which workers were covered; it did not introduce all of those restrictions for the first time. Utah SB 89
Action item: If you operate or use a healthcare services platform, make sure your agreements and practices reflect the amended coverage definitions. Workers excluded from these platform rules might still be covered by other Utah laws, including HB 270.
Learn more about Utah employee handbook requirements.
Employer checklist for May 2026
- California: Confirm whether your company was required to submit payroll and/or labor contractor pay data reports and whether it did so.
- Louisiana: Make sure your minor employee onboarding practices and employment certificate forms/processes follow current state requirements.
- Maine: Review family and medical leave policies, notices, and procedures for the PFML program.
- Utah medical examinations: Check scheduling, employee pay/leave, and provider payment practices for covered examinations.
- Utah healthcare conscience protections: Review advance-notice, staffing, patient-notice, and disclosure procedures.
- Utah healthcare non-competes: Review restrictive covenants and patient communication procedures before using or enforcing agreements.
- Utah healthcare platforms: Check which workers are covered and whether platform agreements and practices reflect the amended definitions.
If your employee handbook contains policies impacted by any of the above changes, don’t forget to update it! After making changes, distribute the updated handbook or relevant addendum to affected employees, highlight significant changes, and keep copies and a record of distribution. Consider obtaining acknowledgments of receipt of the revised version where appropriate.
Of course, not all legally required changes need to be reflected in your handbook. Some call for separate notices, postings, agreements, or behind-the-scenes changes to reporting, onboarding, or payment processes. Either way, make sure the required changes are being followed!
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Frequently asked questions
What employment law changes happened in May 2026?
California employers faced a pay data reporting deadline; Louisiana changed its employment certificate process for minors; Maine PFML benefits became available; and Utah laws took effect concerning healthcare non-competes, employer-required medical examinations, healthcare services platform coverage, and healthcare conscience protections.
Some items were deadlines or amendments to existing laws. Check the relevant section above for dates, coverage, and official sources.
Do I have to reissue or reprint my entire employee handbook when the law changes?
Nope! Update the relevant policies or issue an addendum and make sure affected employees receive the changes, highlighting anything significant.
Keep copies of the updated handbook/addendum and a record of distribution. Consider obtaining acknowledgments for the updated version where appropriate. If you have an online handbook, make sure employees have access to the current version and that you’re keeping appropriate version and acknowledgment records.
Note that handbook updates/addenda are separate from any required notices/postings, so don’t forget those, too!
Do all the changes above require employee handbook updates?
Nope! Some, like California’s pay data reporting requirement, primarily concern reporting. Others, like some of Utah’s changes, may require agreement or payment-process updates rather than handbook revisions.
It’s still a good idea to review affected policies and practices to determine what needs to change.
(This summary is general information, not legal advice. Laws may be amended or delayed, so confirm requirements with the official sources linked above or your employment attorney.)