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IRS Increases Mileage Rate for Second half of 2022
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced in early June an increase in the optional standard mileage rate for the final six months of 2022. Taxpayers may use the optional standard mileage rates to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business and certain other purposes.
For the final six months of 2022, the standard mileage rate for business travel will be 62.5 cents per mile, up four cents from the rate effective at the start of the year. The new rate become effective on Friday.
While fuel costs are a significant factor in the mileage figure, other items enter into the calculation of mileage rates, such as depreciation, insurance and other fixed and variable costs.
The optional business standard mileage rate is used to compute the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business use in lieu of tracking actual costs. This rate is also used as a benchmark by the federal government and many businesses to reimburse their employees for mileage.
Taxpayers always have the option of calculating the actual costs of using their vehicle rather than using the standard mileage rates.
There is a 14-cents-per mile rate for charitable organizations, which remains unchanged because it is set by statute.
The last time the IRS made such a mid-year increase was in 2011.
Connecticut Family and Medical Leave
Effective July 1, 2022, Connecticut employers must comply with the Connecticut Family and Medical Leave Act (CT FMLA) and Paid Leave Act notice requirements.
Connecticut employers are required to provide their employees with written notice describing their rights under the CT FMLA and the Connecticut Paid Leave Act (“CTPL Act”).
In 2019, Connecticut passed the CTPL Act and expanded the existing CT FMLA. On January 1, 2022, the CTPL Act and the expanded CT FMLA went into effect; however, the notice requirements under both laws become effective July 1, 2022. The CT FMLA and CTPL Act require employers to provide written notice to employees upon hire and annually thereafter. The notice to employees must describe:
The Connecticut Department of Labor and Paid Leave Authority provides a template notice that employers can use to satisfy the notice requirement. The proposed CT FMLA regulations also indicate that employers may fulfill the notice requirement by providing the required information in an employee handbook, but the regulations have not yet been finalized. Connecticut employers should ensure their CT FMLA and CTPL Act policies are up-to-date and that they are compliant with the notice requirements by July 1.
Rhode Island Makes Recreational Cannabis Legal
Rhode Island lawmakers adopted the Rhode Island Cannabis Act on May 25, legalizing recreational cannabis. The new law is effective immediately. Medical marijuana has been legal in Rhode Island since 2006.
With the passage of this new law Rhode Island joins a growing minority of states that extend employment protections to employees who use marijuana during non-working hours. With certain exceptions, an employer’s ability to take adverse action due to an applicant’s or employee’s positive drug test for cannabis is significantly limited absent evidence of current impairment at the time of the test.
The recreational marijuana law allows state residents over the age of 21 to possess and consume cannabis for recreational purposes. At the same time, the new law limits the employer’s ability to discipline employees for off-duty cannabis use. Notwithstanding some limited exceptions, employers may not “fire or take disciplinary action against an employee solely for an employee’s private, lawful use of cannabis outside the workplace and as long as the employee has not and is not working under the influence of cannabis.”
As a result, employers are going to be challenged in their ability to act on pre-hire drug tests that report positive for marijuana use.
However, employers may still enforce policies to prohibit cannabis in the workplace and prohibit employees from performing work while under the influence, including work at remote locations. If an employee tests positive for cannabis on a test that measures only cannabis metabolites, those results do not establish that employee is under the influence within the meaning of the law.
Employers may struggle to establish that an employee is under the influence and, therefore, subject to discipline by an employer under its policy.
Limited Exceptions
If an employee performs work that is “hazardous, dangerous or essential to public welfare and safety,” employers may adopt and implement a policy prohibiting the employee’s use of cannabis 24 hours prior to beginning work. The new law does not address the long-standing challenges employers face with marijuana testing that identifies presence but not impairment.
The law permits an employer to discipline employees who are prohibited from cannabis use pursuant to the terms of a collective bargaining agreement.
And if an “employer is a federal contractor or otherwise subject to federal law or regulation such that failure to take such action would cause the employer to lose a monetary or licensing related benefit,” compliance with the law is not required.
The Rhode Island law expressly limits an employer’s ability to rely on off-duty cannabis use in making certain employment decisions. Given the impact of the new law on both employee behavior and testing rules, employers in Rhode Island are encouraged to review the impact of the new law on their operations and if necessary, swiftly update their drug testing policies.
