New Hampshire employers take notice: New Hampshire recently passed two laws that expand employees’ rights in the workplace.
Employee Right to Firearm Storage
Last month, New Hampshire passed a law concerning gun possession and safety rights in the workplace. The law limits what employers in New Hampshire can do to stop employees from legally possessing firearms on employer property. It also restricts inquiries employer scan make about employee’s firearm possession at most worksites. Briefly:
Section I of the law prohibits certain employers from preventing an employee who legally possess a firearm from storing that firearm or ammunition in their vehicle while exiting or entering or parked on the employer’s property, as long as the vehicle is locked and the weapon and ammunition are not visible vehicle. It also prohibits certain employers from taking any adverse employment action (i.e., firing, demoting, reducing pay) who store gun or ammunition in their vehicle while on employer property in accordance with the law, i.e., vehicle is locked and gun and bullets are not visible. This first part of the law applies only to public employers and private employers who receive public funds, including through government contracts, irrespective of the amount.
Section II of the law applies to all New Hampshire employers. It prohibits them and/or their agents from requiring employees to say whether or not they have stored a firearm or ammunition in their vehicle. In other words, employers cannot insist or demand that an employee they suspect of having a gun or ammunition in their vehicle to tell them if that is in fact the case. It also prohibits an employer from searching an employee’s vehicle for firearms or ammunition. Searches of an employee vehicle may only be done by law enforcement through a properly exercised search warrant or exception thereto.
The law also establishes immunity for employers for in any civil action resulting from economic damage, injury, or death involving the use of a firearm or ammunition that result from another’s person’s actions. This immunity applies, but is not limited to, a civil action that arises from injury caused by the theft of a firearm or ammunition from the employee’s vehicle on the employer’s property. The civil immunity created by the statute does not apply if the employer or one of its agents intentionally solicited the person’s actions that caused the injury.
Finally, the law addresses the interplay with other gun safety laws. The law specifically states that it does not authorize the carrying of a firearm in places prohibited by law. In other words, if another law restricts the carrying of a firearm in a particular workplace, this law would not affect that law to allow possession of a firearm on an employer’s property, if it was otherwise unlawful.
The law takes effect January 1, 2025.
The CROWN Act
This summer, New Hampshire also passed the CROWN Act, an acronym for “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.” Briefly, the law extends New Hampshire’s anti-discrimination laws, which already prohibits discrimination on the basis of race or color, to prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of a “protective hairstyle.” Adding this specific provision was seen as necessary because of the unfair treatment many employees say they have experienced based on hairstyles that are more common in certain ethnic groups, religions and/or communities of color.
New Hampshire’s new CROWN Act states that “No person shall be subjected to discrimination in employment because he or she wears a protective hairstyle.” The term “protective hairstyle” is defined to mean “hairstyles or hair type, including braids, locs, tight coils or curls, corn rows, Bantu knots, Afros, twists, and head wraps.”
In terms of enforcement, the law specifically provides a right to file a private cause of action to any employee who believes they have been subject to discrimination because of a protective hairstyle. Claims brought under New Hampshire’s new CROWN Act are specifically exempted from the jurisdiction of the New Hampshire Human Rights Commission. This means that unlike with other state employment discrimination claims where an employee must first exhaust his or her administrative remedies by filing a Charge at the Commission before filing suit in court, employees who allege violations of the CROWN Act can go directly to court with this cause of action. Excluding the CROWN Act from the jurisdiction of the New Hampshire Commission for Human Rights also means that we will not receive any guidance from that agency interpreting or applying the law.
New Hampshire is one of 20+ states, and counting, who have passed the CROWN Act, including Massachusetts.
This law takes effect 60 days after passage, i.e., September 1, 2024.
What Should Employers Do Now? Employers must be aware of these laws and take steps to ensure that they are not violating them. As far as policies, many employers may already have workplace violence or safety rules, as well as anti-discrimination policies. Employers should review those policies to make sure that they do not run afoul of these new laws. If they do, the policies should be amended to comply with the new laws. Employers may need to consider developing existing policies, or draft new ones, which specifically address the matters raised by these issues. Employers may also consider making sure that they are complying with these new laws when implementing workplace rules and policies. Be sure not to make employment decisions based on protected hairstyles. Be careful not to overstep any action to limit gun possession at work. Training is an important way to be sure no to violate these new laws. Employers should reach out to legal counsel if they need help drafting policies and/or for further guidance, as well.