The following changes to Iowa employment law apply to employers of all sizes and take effect on July 1, 2025. Additional details about these laws are available in the law alerts on the platform and will be added to the laws pages no later than the laws’ effective dates.

PARITY FOR ADOPTIVE PARENTS
Employers will be required to treat employees who adopt a child (up to six years old) the same as employees who are the biological parents of a newborn. This applies for the purpose of employment policies, benefits, and protections during the first year of adoption.

Action Item
Ensure that any protections or benefits extended to the parents of newborns are also extended to covered adoptive parents and update your policies as appropriate.

DRUG TESTING UPDATES
The state has made two minor changes to its employment drug and alcohol testing laws.

First, employers will be required to specifically designate positions as “safety-sensitive” to be allowed to conduct certain testing. Currently, jobs are considered safety-sensitive if they meet specific criteria (e.g., if an accident on the job could result in death), but now these jobs will need to be clearly identified as such.

Second, if applicants, employees, or parents of minor employees who are subject to drug testing agree to it, employers can now provide any required policies and notifications (e.g., test results) in person—but still in writing—or electronically. Previously, certified mail was required.

Action Items

If a position is safety-sensitive, make sure that designation is documented and made clear to applicants and employees.
If you’d like to provide drug test results and related information in-person or electronically rather than by snail mail, get the consent of the applicant or employee to do so.