Delaware Updates Minimum Wage and Discrimination Laws

Effective January 1, 2019, Delaware’s minimum wage is going up, the state’s new youth & training minimum wage goes into effect, and new requirements related to unlawful sexual harassment will be enforced.

Wow! There’s a lot going on in Delaware, but our customers can rest easy because the new state poster will soon be on its way to their places of business. In the meantime, here’s some information that all employers and employees in Delaware need to know.

Changes to the Minimum Wage

Beginning January 1, 2019, employers in the State of Delaware must pay their employees a minimum wage rate of $8.75 per hour. Due to the passage of a new youth & training minimum wage law, workers ages 14 to 17, as well as adult trainees during their first 90 days of employment, must be paid a minimum wage rate of $8.25 per hour.

One other item to “note” on the Minimum Wage notice is an adjustment in terminology related to meal break requirements. All employees must now be offered (rather than receive) meal breaks of at least 30 consecutive minutes when working 7.5 or more hours per day.

New Discrimination Requirements

Effective January 1, 2019, under Delaware’s new anti-sexual harassment law (House Bill 360), employers in the state must abide by certain new requirements, some of which are outlined below.

Unlawful Sexual Harassment

In addition to employees, sexual harassment against applicants, apprentices, staffing agency workers, unpaid interns, and independent contractors is now unlawful.

Sexual Harassment Notice

The Delaware Department of Labor’s Division of Industrial Affairs (DIA), has created a “Sexual Harassment Notice” (referred to as the “Sexual Harassment Informational Worksheet” on the Discrimination notice) that employers must distribute to new employees at the commencement of employment and to existing employees by July 1, 2019.

The “Sexual Harassment Notice” provides important information for employees, including a description of the Delaware Discrimination in Employment Act, examples of unlawful sexual harassment, retaliation protections, and how to report sexual harassment. Here is a link to the DIA page where employers can find the notice: https://dia.delawareworks.com/discrimination/sexual-harassment.php

Sexual Harassment Training

Employers who have 50 or more employees must provide interactive sexual harassment training to all new employees within one year of the start of their employment, and then repeat the training every two years thereafter. For existing employees, interactive sexual harassment training must be provided within one year of January 1, 2019, and then repeated every two years thereafter.

We Make Compliance Easy

If you order our 1-Year Compliance Plan, you will automatically receive the updated Delaware poster as soon as it is available. And because we provide free poster updates for mandatory changes, no matter how many occur during the 12-month period, you can always count on Poster Compliance Center to keep you in compliance.