The California legislature more than met its annual quota for new red tape to close out the 2022 session. The following employment laws are now in effect. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.
AB 1949 -- Bereavement Leave
Employers with 5 or more employees must provide 5 days of bereavement leave for the death of a "family member." The leave may be unpaid and nonconsecutive (although it must be completed within 3 months). Employers must maintain the confidentiality of the reason for the leave. The leave is separate from any leave the employee may be entitled to under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA).
AB 1041 -- Expanded Entitlement To Leave Based On "Designated Persons"
The CFRA now includes grandparents, grandchildren and parents-in-law as "family members" for whom employees may take leave in order to provide care. The law further amends the CFRA to include a designated individual, which the employee may name at the time of requesting leave. An employer may limit an employee to one designated person per 12 month period of time.
SB 1162 -- Pay Scale Postings and Annual Pay Data Reporting
Pay Scale Posting:
All employers must provide a "pay scale" (i.e., salary or hourly wage range) to current employees, upon request. Employers with 15 or more employees must post the pay scale in job postings. Employers with fewer than 15 employees must provide the pay scale to an applicant upon request. All employers must maintain job title and wage history records for employees for the duration of employment plus three years.
Annual Pay Data Reporting:
Employers with 100 or more employees, or employees hired through labor contractors, must submit a pay data report to the California Civil Rights Department (in addition to the existing requirement to submit an Employer Information Report (EEO-1).
AB 2693 -- Employer COVID-19 Exposure Notice
Amends AB 685 (Cal. Labor Code Sections 6325, 6409.6 and 6432), reducing the burden of exposure notice requirements for employers.
Employers who receive notice of potential exposure in the workplace may now place a notice of exposure where workplace notices are customarily posted. The notice must state the dates and location of the exposure, as well as contact information for employees to receive information regarding COVID-19 benefits, CDC cleaning and disinfection plan and Cal-OSHA COVID-19 prevention program. The notice must be posted within 1 business day of the employer learning of the exposure and remain posted for 15 calendar days. Employers must keep a log of all dates the notice was posted.
Alternatively, the employer may provide written notice to all employees who were on the premises at the same time of the confirmed case of COVID-19, but need not provide the information about COVID-19 related benefits, the cleaning and disinfection plan or the prevention plan.
The law removes the requirements to notify the local public health agency in the event of an "outbreak."
AB 2188 -- Protections for Non-Work-Related Marijuana Usage and Testing Limitations
It is now unlawful for an employer to discriminate against an employee or applicant for: (1) the person's use of cannabis off the job and away from the workplace; or (2) an employer-required drug screening which does not indicate actual/present impairment from cannabis.
This law does not permit employees to possess, be impaired by or use cannabis at work. Importantly, employees in the building/construction trades are excepted from the scope of this new legislation.
SB 1044 -- Retaliation Relating to Emergency Conditions
Precludes employers from taking adverse action against employees who refuse to report to or who leave a workplace because the employee reasonably believes the worksite is unsafe due to an emergency condition.
AB 2206 -- Employee Parking, Parking Cash-Out Program
A true target placed on the back of the unwary: companies with 50 or more employees that are located in an area which does not meet clean air standards that offer free parking to employees and that lease the parking spots are subject to the rule (employer owned parking spaces are not subject to the law). The law requires employers to inform employees that they have the right to a cash-out benefit and to document they have done so. Specific guidelines are provided about the amount of the cash-out. Documents must be kept for four years.
SB 523 -- Contraceptive Equality Act of 2022
Makes it unlawful to require disclosure of reproductive health decision making or to discriminate on the basis of reproductive health decisions.
Data Privacy Exemption Expiration
The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 will be applicable to employers in 2023 if they meet the following three conditions:(1) The company does business in CA; (2) The company is a for-profit business; and (3) The company meets any of the following three thresholds; (a) gross revenues over $25 million; (b) deals in the personally identifiable information of 100,000 or more consumers/households; or (c) derives 50% or more of its annual revenue from selling/sharing customers' personal information.