Page 190 - An Indispensible Resource for Being a Credible Activist

competent jurisdiction. Contractors and subcontractors shall keep original payrolls or tran-
scripts thereof, subscribed and sworn to or affirmed by the aforementioned department fis-
cal officer as true under the penalties of perjury. If the contractor or subcontractor maintains
no regular place of business in the State, and if the amount of the contract is in excess of
$25,000, such payrolls shall be kept on the site of the work. Any person who willfully fails
to file such payroll records with the department of jurisdiction shall be guilty of a Class E
felony. In addition, any person who fails to file such payroll records within the time speci-
fied by law shall be subject to a civil penalty of up to $5,000 per day. Utility companies and
their contractors and subcontractors who are required to use or open a street as a condition
of issuance of a permit must agree that none but competent workers who are skilled in the
work required of them shall be employed for those positions. Further, the prevailing scale of
union wages shall be the prevailing wage for the similar titles established by the fiscal offi-
cer of the utility and its contractors and subcontractors. The department fiscal officer also
has the responsibility of keeping original payroll records or transcripts, subscribed and
sworn to or affirmed by him or her as true under the penalty of perjury. The records shall
include the names and addresses of each employee, laborer, or mechanic and, for each of
them, shall show the hours and days worked, the occupations worked, the hourly wage
rates paid, and the supplements paid or provided.
Time off. The State labor law relating to employers permitting a leave of absence for
blood donation granted to certain employees was amended. The law now requires an em-
ployer, at its option, to (1) grant three hours’ leave of absence in any 12-month period to an
employee who seeks to donate blood or (2) allow its employees, without using any accumu-
lated leave time, to donate blood during work hours at least two times per year at a conven-
ient time and place set by the employer. Condition (2) includes allowing an employee to
participate in a blood drive at the employee’s place of employment.
Worker privacy. Among the amendments to the State’s executive, general-business,
public-officers, and penal and criminal procedure law were changes to the labor law to protect
the identity of the employee and any personal identifying information. An employer now may
not publicly post or display an employee’s Social Security number, visibly print a Social
Security number in files with unrestricted access, or communicate an employee’s personal
identifying information to the general public. Personal identifying information shall include
one’s Social Security number, home address or phone number, personal electronic mail
address, Internet identification name or password, parent’s surname prior to marriage, and
drivers’ license number. The Social Security number shall not be used as an identification
number for any occupational licensing. The commissioner may impose a civil penalty of up
to $500 on any employer for knowingly violating this law.

NORTH CAROLINA

Minimum wage. Because of requirements included in legislation enacted earlier, the State
minimum wage was increased to $6.55 on July 24, 2008.
Whistleblower. The State added agricultural workers to those protected against discrimi-
nation and retaliation in the workplace by employers if the employee files a complaint; ini-

CHAPTER 11 • Different Laws in Different States 173