Effective January 1, 2025
Notice to employees (AB 1870)
Requires employers to post modified notice, including:
- To whom employees should report injuries;
- An employee’s right to select and change a treating physician;
- Employee protections against discrimination; and
- An employee’s ability to consult a licensed attorney for advice regarding related rights
Update and post compliant labor-law poster
Reproductive-loss leave (AB 2011)
- Extends California’s small-employer family-leave mediation program indefinitely, and adds reproductive-loss leave, including resolution of alleged violations
- Applies to employers with 5 through 19 employees
Update employee handbook with reproductive loss and other leaves of absence for which your employees are eligible
Paid family leave (PFL) (AB 2123)
- Eliminates employer’s ability to require vacation usage prior to an employee’s receipt of California PFL benefits
- Provides earlier access to PFL benefits
Update policy and practice, if needed
Whistleblower protections (AB 2299)
- Requires the Labor Commissioner to develop a model list of employee rights and responsibilities under whistleblower law
Employers must prominently display the model notice
Expanded freelance protections (Worker Protection Act) (SB 988)
- Requires hiring parties of “freelance workers” (independent contractors) to provide a written agreement for professional services in exchange for an amount equal to, or greater than, $250
- Applies to contracts entered into, or renewed, on or after January 1, 2025
Seek legal advice from employment counsel as needed for compliance
Reframed victim-of-violence leave (AB 2499)
- Substantially revises and expands existing definitions, including “victim” as an individual against whom a qualifying act of violence was committed
- Expands reasonable accommodations, qualifying reasons for paid-sick-time usage, and protections
- An employer with at least 25 employees must provide protected leave for an employee who is (or whose family member is) a victim of a qualifying act of violence to obtain relief
- Permits an employer to limit leave to 12 weeks, running at the same time as federal Family and Medical Leave Act and California Family Rights Act, as applicable
- Requires employer to notify employees of their rights upon hire, annually, and whenever employees inform the employer that the employee or the employee’s family member is a victim of a qualifying act of violence
Update employee handbook and train management on the new requirements
Employment discrimination (SB 1340)
- Enables local governments to enforce anti-discrimination laws when employees bring a right-to-sue notice from the CaliforniaCivil Rights Department
- Allows any qualifying city, county, or political subdivision of the state to enforce any local law which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, age, reproductive health decision making, sexual orientation, or other classes of persons covered by the state Fair Employment and Housing Act
Audit practices and procedures and provide related training
Driver-license discrimination (SB 1100)
- Amends California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act to prohibit discrimination in the hiring process based on the lack of a driver’s license and adds protections for individuals without a driver’s license
- Prohibits employers from including a statement in a job advertisement, posting, application, or other material that an applicant must have a driver’s license, unless the employer:
- Reasonably expects driving to be one of the job functions; and
- Reasonably believes that satisfying the job function using an “alternative form of transportation” (e.g., ride-hailing, taxi, carpooling, bicycling, or walking) would not be comparable in travel time or cost to the employer
Revise pre-hire and other practices and documentation, and train management
Private Attorneys General Act or PAGA (AB 2288 and SB 92)
- Changes and clarifies previously ambiguous interpretations of the law, and adds new provisions, some of which likely require court interpretation
- Aggrieved employee can only sue on behalf of self and other current or former employees against whom a violation of the same Labor Code provision was allegedly committed and those violations against employee were within the one-year statute of limitations
- Provides further guidance and new opportunities for employers with respect to: plaintiff standing; cure, remediation, early-settlement opportunities; and adjusted default-penalty amounts
- Strengthens worker protections, encourages employer compliance, streamlines litigation processes, and averted a contentious ballot measure
- Allocation of recovered penalties to aggrieved employees increased from 25% to 35% (with remainder to state)
- Focuses on employers which have not taken all reasonable and appropriate steps to comply in a timely manner, proactively or after receiving actionable Labor and Workforce Development Agency notice of noncompliance (cure and remediation of alleged violations), and provides incentives for maintaining compliant practices and for correcting non-compliance upon identification by reducing potential exposure
- Provides courts with greater discretion to reduce penalties, based on employer’s remediation (or correction) efforts. All reasonable steps may include periodic payroll audits and acting upon the results, distributing lawful written policies, training supervisors on Labor Code and wage-and-hour compliance, and taking corrective action regarding supervisors
Ensure compliant arbitration agreements are in place for all employees for inclusion of individual PAGA claims. Assess, revise, and implement policies as needed, train, and audit. Immediately obtain expert legal guidance regarding any notice or legal claim
Captive audience (Employer communications, intimidation) (SB 399)
- Prohibits employers from requiring employees to attend an employer-sponsored meeting, or participate in any communication with the employer or its agents or representatives, to communicate the employer’s opinion about religious or political matters
- Protects employees from retaliation for refusing to participate in captive-audience meetings
Obtain any needed guidance, train management, update policies/handbook, clearly communicate, and memorialize that a necessary, covered meeting is voluntary
Intersectionality of Protected Characteristics (SB 1137)
- Protects against intersectional discrimination based on a combination of protected characteristics in the workplace
First-aid materials to include opioid antagonist (AB 1976) (Effective July 2027)
- Revises existing Cal/OSHA regulation regarding first-aid materials
- Requires workplace first-aid kits to include naloxone hydrochloride or another opioid antagonist approved by federal Food and Drug Administration
