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NH committee hears mixed support for PEO flexibility in SB 655 and a separate minor‑league baseball wage exemption
Summary
Lawmakers heard that SB 655 would let either a professional employer organization (PEO) or the client employer hold workers’ compensation policies and would add a narrow minimum‑wage exemption for minor‑league baseball players covered by a collective bargaining agreement. Supporters call the change technical and protective; labor officials said they can regulate it but flagged implementation questions.
The House Labor, Industrial and Rehabilitative Services Committee heard testimony on Senate Bill 655, a package of technical changes to New Hampshire law affecting employee leasing companies (PEOs) and a separate amendment carving out minor‑league baseball players paid under a collective bargaining agreement from the state’s minimum‑wage tracking rules.
Senator Dan Inennis, the bill’s Senate sponsor, told the committee the measure is narrowly crafted to let client companies or the PEO choose which party maintains workers’ compensation coverage in a co‑employment relationship. “This bill does not reduce, does not weaken, or avoid workers compensation coverage in any way,” Inennis said, adding the change would bring New Hampshire into alignment with most other states and lower barriers for multi‑state employers who find the current requirement burdensome.
Justin Warell, managing director for governmental and regulatory affairs at Insparity, a national PEO, said the flexibility is necessary for some clients to participate in PEO arrangements. He described the model as “co‑employment,” with the PEO handling payroll and benefits and the client operating day‑to‑day. Warell said Insparity continues to provide coverage for the vast majority of its clients but that the option to let a client retain its own policy can preserve jobs for employers with specialized arrangements.
On a separate amendment, Major League Baseball’s senior vice president and chief employment counsel Stephen Gonzalez urged the committee to add language exempting minor‑league players whose pay and benefits are set by a CBA from state‑level minimum‑wage hour tracking. Gonzalez said the parties’ 2023 CBA provides salaries and year‑round benefits that, taken together, exceed federal and state minimums, but that trying to track each minute of a player’s training, travel and development time creates impractical litigation risk and could restrict players’ access to training and facilities.
Deputy Commissioner Danielle Albert of the New Hampshire Department of Labor said the department is neutral on SB 655 as drafted. She summarized how the bill would amend RSA 277‑B (the state’s PEO statute): permitting the parties to elect which entity secures workers’ compensation coverage, requiring employee notice if the client company is the policyholder, mandating PEO reporting to the department to verify coverage, and preserving remedies and penalties if coverage is missing. Albert told lawmakers the department believes it can regulate the bill but flagged technical issues that might require clarifying language.
Committee members asked how client‑held policies would affect claims administration and whether cost‑shifting could occur. Witnesses responded that premiums and claims costs ultimately flow to employers but that allowing clients to keep a carrier they already use can remove a barrier for participation in a PEO. On the MLB exemption, members probed whether federal law (the Save America’s Pastime Act of 2018) already covers players; Gonzalez said federal protections help but that state enactment removes litigation uncertainty created by varying state law and court rulings.
No formal vote occurred. Committee members scheduled follow‑up work and told staff they will consider drafting clarifying language for notice, reporting and definitions before taking further action.
