The City of Los Angeles’ Fair Work Week Ordinance will take effect on April 1, 2023. The Ordinance, which was unanimously passed by the Los Angeles City Council in November 2022, requires retail employers in the City of Los Angeles to provide employees at least 14 days’ advance notice of their work schedules and to compensate employees in the event of certain schedule changes. You can read our prior blog article on the Los Angeles Fair Work Week Ordinance here.
As we previously reported here last fall, California enacted a pay transparency law (SB 1162) requiring employers with 15 or more employees to disclose pay scales in job postings beginning January 1, 2023. The Labor Commissioner recently issued guidance in the form of FAQs to address some of the unanswered questions regarding the interpretation and enforcement of the California Equal Pay Act.
Continue Reading California Labor Commissioner Issues FAQs Clarifying Pay Transparency Law
Los Angeles City retail employers may soon be subject to significant new employee scheduling requirements. On November 22, 2022, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed the Fair Work Week Ordinance (the “Ordinance”). The new Ordinance, set to become effective on April 1, 2023, will require retail employers in the City of Los Angeles to provide employees at least 14 days’ advance notice of their work schedules and to compensate employees in the event of certain schedule changes. The Ordinance is still pending approval by the Mayor.
Continue Reading The City of Los Angeles’ Fair Work Week Ordinance Requires Predictable Scheduling
The Bill
The Expansion of California Family Rights Act, AB 1041, was signed into law by Governor Newsom on September 29, 2022. AB 1041 expands the class of people for whom an employee may take leave to care for under the California Family Rights Act (“CFRA”) to include a “designated person.” AB 1041 also expands the term “family member” under the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act (“HWHFA”), which governs paid sick day leave, to include “designated person.”
Continue Reading Who Is a “Designated Person”? Changes to California’s Medical Leave
In February 2022, California enacted Senate Bill (“SB”) 114, which created California Labor Code section 248.6 to provide COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave (“CSPSL”) to covered employees. CSPSL was due to expire on September 30, 2022. On September 29, 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (“AB”) 152, which (1) extends CSPSL through December 31, 2022, (2) provides employers the ability to require an additional diagnostic test before employees use CSPSL in certain circumstances, and (3) creates a grant program to assist qualified small business and nonprofits with grants for costs incurred for CSPSL provided in 2022.
Continue Reading California Immediately Expands COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Through 2022
Beginning January 1, 2024, and following the passage of Assembly Bill 2188, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) will add employee protections against discrimination based on off-the-job cannabis use with a few, limited exceptions. Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2188 into law on September 18, 2022. AB 2188 focuses on employee impairment from cannabis use, which it correlates only to the psychoactive component of cannabis, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and places new requirements on employer-required drug screening tests. AB 2188 is significant because it is the first time that California’s permissive cannabis-use laws have been incorporated into the employment realm. California employers should consider reviewing their job application process and any pre-employment drug screening protocols, as well as their policies and practices relating to drug screening in connection with hiring, discipline, and termination to ensure they will comply with the new law.
Continue Reading California Expands Employees’ Right to Off-Duty Cannabis Use
In a last minute whirlwind of activity by California’s Legislature, a significant number of employment-related bills have now made their way to Governor Newsom’s desk and await their fate. Below are highlights of some of the bills that may affect California employers, should Governor Newsom sign them into law.
We previously described the “framework” for an agreement to reinstate California’s Supplemental Paid Sick Leave. Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill (“SB”) 114 into law on February 9, 2022. The specifics of the bill are summarized below.
Author’s Note: The prior version of this article noted SB 114 required employers to list the amount of CSPSL used by an employee during a given pay period. SB 114 can be interpreted to require that wage statements list both available and used CSPSL. The wage statement section has been updated to reflect best practices in light of the ambiguity in the law.
Continue Reading California Reinstates COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave
On January 25, 2022, Governor Gavin Newson announced a “framework” for an agreement to reactivate California’s COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave (“COVID PSL”) law for the period from January 1, 2022 to September 30, 2022. California employers should assume this agreement will become law in some form and prepare accordingly to re-institute supplemental paid sick leave for their California employees in the near term.
Continue Reading California Likely to Soon Implement COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave, Retroactive to January 1, 2022
In our annual California Legislative Update, we briefly explained that SB 606 expanded the enforcement authority of the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (“Cal/OSHA”) in various ways. With the new law’s effective date (January 1, 2022) right around the corner, we are providing a more detailed breakdown on the two new categories of Cal/OSHA violations created by SB 606 and its potential impact on California employers.
Continue Reading New Year Means Newly Expanded Enforcement Authority for Cal/OSHA
On September 27, 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez’s Assembly Bill 1003 into law. This new legislation establishes that intentional theft of wages or tips by employers is punishable as grand theft. The law takes effect on January 1, 2022.
Continue Reading New California Law Imposes Harsh Penalties for Employers Committing Intentional Wage Theft