The CA Legislature passed, and the Governor signed a number of bills into Law that will IMPACT your business in beginning January 1, 2023.
Leaves of Absence
AB 1041 - Expands who an employee can take leave of absence (LOA) to care for adding 1 "designated person" under the CA Family Rights Act (CFRA) and CA paid sick leave law. An employer may limit an employee to 1 designated person in a 12-month period.
AB 1949 - makes bereavement leave a protected LOA. All private employers with 5 or more employees and all public employers must grant bereavement LOA up to 5 days upon the death of a family member (spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, domestic partner or parent-in-law). Bereavement LOA may be unpaid; however, employees can opt to use existing vacation, PTO, sick leave, etc. Employers can require documentation and leave must be completed within 3 months of the family member's death.
Discrimination
SB 523 - amends FEHA (Fair Employment & Housing Act) to make unlawful to discriminate against an employee or job applicant based on their "reproductive health decision-making." This includes, but is not limited to, a decision to use or access a particular drug, device, product or medical service for reproductive health.
Pay Scale/Pay Data
SB 1162 - expands CA's pay data requirement to require employers to make pay scale information available to job applicants and employees as well. Employers must provide on request a pay scale to an employee for the position the employee is working. In addition, employers with 15 or more employees must include the pay scale information for a position in any job posting.
It also revises and expands the pay date reporting requirements for employers with 100 or more employees. In addition to reporting the number of employees by race, ethnicity and sex by job-title categories and pay bands, employers must report the median and mean hourly rate within each job category, for each combination of race, ethnicity and sex in the report.
Workplace Safety
SB 1044 - In the event of an emergency, prohibits an employer from taking or threatening adverse action against an employee for refusing to report to or leaving a workplace if the employee has a reasonable belief the workplace is unsafe. Additionally, prohibits an employer from preventing any employee from accessing their mobile device or other communication device to get emergency assistance, assess the safety situation or communicate to verify safety.
Covid-19 related laws
AB 2693 - Employers may now satisfy the notice requirements by prominently displaying a notice in the workplace of the potential exposure. The posted notice must contain the dates on which the Covid case was at the workplace within the infectious period and remain posted 15 days. Removes Employer reporting requirement to Local Health Dept. Expires January 1, 2024.
AB 1751 - Extends the expiration of SB 1159 to January 1, 2024, the rebuttable worker's compensation presumption for employees have contracted Covid as a result of workplace exposure.
Industry-Specific Measures
AB 257 (Fast Food Industry) - creates a 10-member Fast Food Council appointed by the Governor, Speaker of the Assembly & Senate Rules Committee within the Dept of Industrial Relations. This unelected council will establish minimum wages, working hours and other working conditions for Fast Food restaurants.
AB 1601 (Call Center Employers) - Requires affected employers to follow the California Worker Adjustment & Retraining Act requirements prior to relocating a call center to a foreign country. This applies to call centers that employ, or have employed within the preceding 12 months, 75 or more persons.
For more details on these Laws please click on this link:
CA Bill Search
