Labor & Employment Newsletter

Bills on the Governor's Desk

As usual, the California Legislature has been busy passing new laws guaranteed to create more burdens on businesses and employers. By October 15, Governor Jerry Brown (D) must sign, veto, or otherwise not act upon these bills.  Once signed, these new laws will take effect on January 1, 2018 unless the specific bill requires an earlier or a later effective date. Employers should review the partial list of employment related bills below to get ready for their possible implementation in January.

Labor violation investigations

SB 306 would allow the state labor department to investigate employers it suspects discharged or otherwise discriminated against an individual in violation of any law under the department’s jurisdiction. The department can proceed without a complaint when suspected retaliation occurred during the course of adjudicating a wage claim, during a field inspection, or in instances of suspected immigration-related threats.

SB 491 would amend the California Fair Employment and Housing Act to not limit a local government’s ability to refer a person alleging discrimination to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing for information about filing a complaint, to assist the person filing a complaint, and to provide relevant information and resources. It would also establish an advisory group to study, among other things, the feasibility of authorizing local governments to enforce state anti-discrimination laws, conduct workplace site visits, and mediate disputes.

Non-cooperation with ICE

AB 450 would provide that, unless federal law requires, employers or their agents cannot voluntarily consent to immigration enforcement agents entering nonpublic areas of a workplace.

Discrimination

AB 1209 would, beginning July 1, 2019 and every two years thereafter, require businesses with 500 or more employees in California that must file a statement of information with the Secretary of State to report the difference between the mean and median wages of male and female employees who are exempt administrative, executive, or professional employees, or board members, in California.

AB 1710 and SB 266 would slightly modify anti-discrimination laws to prohibit employers from negatively impacting an employee’s terms, conditions, or privileges of employment based on the employee’s military membership or servicelace without a judicial warrant.

 Family Leave

SB 63 would amend the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) to allow employees who work at worksites that employ at least 20 employees within 75 miles to take 12 weeks of unpaid leave for new child bonding purposes.  To be eligible, an employee must have more than 12 months of service and at least 1,250 hours of service with the employer during the previous 12-month period.  The bill expands the number of employers required to provide such leave by reducing the number of employees from the previous minimum of 50 employees.

Salary History

AB 168 would limit an employer’s ability to ask about or rely on an applicant’s salary history when making employment decisions, and requires employers to provide, upon request, a position's pay scale information. 

IIPP Disclosure

AB 978 would require employers to provide, for free, a written or electronic copy of their written injury prevention program within 10 business days of a request by employees or their representative.

New Employee Training Requirements

SB 295 would require farm labor contractors to provide mandatory sexual harassment training to agricultural employees in the language the employees understand, which may be accomplished either by providing training in that language or having the training interpreted into that language. Additionally, it would create a new statute that imposes liability on farm labor contractors that: 1) do not comply with training requirements; 2) do not provide employees a record of their training or a copy of the state’s sexual harassment pamphlet; 3) falsify employee training completion records; and/or 4) do not keep training records.

SB 396 would require employers with 50 or more employees to include in their sexual harassment training to supervisory employees, training on harassment based on gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. It would also require employers with five or more employees to display in the workplace a Department of Fair Employment and Housing poster regarding transgender rights.

Criminal History

AB 1008 would amend the California Fair Employment and Housing Act to generally “ban the box” for employers with five or more employees by prohibiting questions about an applicant’s conviction history before a conditional offer of employment is made.  The bill would also limit consideration of arrests that did not result in convictions, diversion program participation and/or convictions that were sealed, dismissed, expunged, or eradicated, and prescribe steps that must be taken if an employer intends to deny employment solely or partly because of conviction history.

For more information, contact Terry O'Connor.
DISCLAIMER: This article is published as a service to my friends and clients. It is not intended to provide legal advice, but rather to make you aware of developments of interest to you.

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