Hill’s Bills

I know you get a kick out of reading what exciting things California’s legislature has come up with regarding employment law. They’ve been busy this year so I’ve kept the descriptions short because the list is long. Now, get the eye-rolling out of the way so you can focus:

• Mandatory Paid Sick Leave (AB 304) — While everyone scrambled to get policies in place by July 1st, the Legislature decided to add a couple of twists to the law. However, this time the changes worked in our favor because they made it easier to calculate sick leave pay.
• School Activities Leave (SB 579) — Previously, parents could take up to 40 hours off each year (unpaid) to attend school activities. Now that time can also be used to find a school or licensed child care provider or for enrollment and makes the time available to a larger list of employees.
• Kin Care (SB 579) — Extends this law to conform to the Paid Sick Leave law.
• Labor Commissioner Expanded Enforcement Powers (SB 588) — Expands the Labor Commissioner’s ability to enforce laws, such as issuing levies and liens to enforce a judgment, issuing a “stop work order” when an employer fails to satisfy a judgment for unpaid wages, allowing an individual acting on behalf of an employer to be held personally liable for violations, etc.
• Labor Commissioner Enforcement of Local Laws (AB 970) — Expands the Labor Commissioner’s authority to investigate and enforce overtime and minimum wage laws and issue citations.
• Wage Garnishment (SB 501) — Changes the amount of weekly disposable earnings that may be garnished.
• Fair Pay Act (SB 358) — The current law protects against inequities in opposite-sex employees. This law removes the gender difference so all employees must be paid equally for equal skill, effort, and responsibility with the same company. This will be one you’ll remember and I’ll cover in a later article.
• Meal Periods Health Care Industry (SB 327) — Confirms health care industry workers can voluntarily waive one of their two meal periods, even when an employee’s shift exceeds 12 hours.
• National Guard Leave and Protections (AB 583) — Extends the current law to cover employees who are members of the National Guard in another state.
• Unemployment Insurance and Electronic Reporting (AB 1245) — Requires employers with 10+ employees to file all unemployment reports and contributions electronically.
• State Disability Insurance Eligibility: Waiting Periods (SB 667) — Waives the second 7-day waiting period when a second disability benefits claim is filed for the same or related condition within 60 days after the first.
• Whistleblower and Anti-Retaliation Protections (AB 1509) — Expands protections to prohibit employers from retaliating against an employee when a family member of the employee engages in whistleblowing or other described protected activity and includes “client employers” (e.g., staffing agencies).
• Reasonable Accommodation and Retaliation (AB 987) — Clarifies that an employer can’t retaliate or discriminate against an employee for requesting a reasonable accommodation for a disability or religion, regardless of whether the request was granted.
• Immigration-Related Protections (AB 560) — Add protection for child workers to clarify that their immigration status is not relevant to the issue of whether their employer violated the law or to what remedies are available to the worker.
• Private Attorneys General Act (AB 1506) — Currently, employees can sue their employer for Labor Code violations. This law allows the employer 33 days to correct certain violations on wage statements.
• Piece Rate Workers (AB 1513) — Requires piece rate workers to also be paid for “non-productive time” (e.g., rest breaks or gaps of time between projects) and dictates what needs to be listed on the wage statement.
• Unlawful Use of E-Verify (AB 622) — Makes it unlawful for an employer to use E-Verify to check on someone who has not received an offer of employment or on an existing employee.
• Professional Cheerleaders Are Employees (AB 202) — Requires cheerleaders for California-based professional sports teams to be classified as employees, not independent contractors. (Okay, I just threw this one in for fun since I don’t think any of you own a sports team!)
• Workers’ Compensation (several bills) — Ensures all workers are covered regardless of citizenship or immigration status and has changes to the DWC-1 form and relevant posters.
• Franchisor/Franchisees (AB 525) — Changes when a franchise agreement can be terminated for good cause.
• Ride Sharing Services (AB 1422) — Requires ride-sharing services, such as Uber and Lyft, to regularly check the driving records of participating drivers regardless of whether the driver is an employee or an independent contractor so they will be aware of accidents, license revocations/suspensions, DUIs and other actions taken against a license holder.