SACRAMENTO, CA — The California Chamber of Commerce today released the list of new employment laws scheduled to take effect in 2018 or beyond that will have an impact on businesses in California.
Employers must be aware of significant changes in key areas, such as a small business parental leave law and new hiring restrictions. Other new laws make small changes to different parts of existing law or may affect only employers in specific industries.
Unless specified, all new legislation goes into effect on January 1, 2018.
The summaries below appear in a CalChamber white paper, available to download here.
Parental Leave for Small Employers
An important new law requires that small employers provide new parents with up to 12 workweeks of unpaid leave.
SB 63, the New Parent Leave Act, requires small businesses with 20 or more employees to provide eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to bond with a new child — leave that must be taken within one year of the child’s birth, adoption or foster care placement. SB 63 requires employers to provide parental leave only for baby bonding; it does not require employers to provide leave for other reasons, such as a family member’s medical issue.
The New Parent Leave Act will have the greatest impact on employers with 20 to 49 employees who are not currently required to provide baby bonding leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act or the state California Family Rights Act.
Hiring Practices and Enforcement
Employers will see significant changes to their hiring practices in 2018, including applicant selection processes and compliance with Form I-9 and immigration laws.
Ban-the-Box Law
AB 1008 prohibits employers with five or more employees from asking about criminal history information on job applications and from inquiring about or considering criminal history at any time before a conditional offer of employment has been made. There are limited exemptions for certain positions, such as those where a criminal background check is required by federal, state or local law.
No More Salary History Questions
AB 168 bans employers from asking about a job applicant’s prior salary, compensation or benefits (either directly or through an agent, such as a third-party recruiter).
In addition, employers cannot rely on salary history information as a factor in determining whether to hire the applicant or how much to pay the applicant. However, an employer may consider salary information that is disclosed voluntarily by the applicant without any prompting.
Worksite Immigration Enforcement and Protections
The Immigrant Worker Protection Act (AB 450) provides workers with protection from immigration enforcement while on the job and imposes varying fines from $2,000 to $10,000 for violating its provisions.
This bill also makes it unlawful for employers to reverify the employment eligibility of current employees in a time or manner not allowed by federal employment eligibility verification laws.
Alcohol Servers
AB 1221 requires that businesses licensed to serve alcohol make sure each alcohol server receives mandatory training on alcohol responsibility and obtains an alcohol server certification. These requirements go into effect in 2021, after the course is developed by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
Discrimination, Harassment and Retaliation Protections
Several new laws expand employee protections for 2018. Many of these laws focus on gender equality and gender identity/gender expression protections.
Harassment Prevention Training: Gender Identity/Gender Expression, Sexual Orientation
California employers with 50 or more employees must provide supervisors with two hours of sexual harassment prevention training every two years.
Under SB 396, covered employers will have to make sure that any mandatory training course they use also discusses harassment based on gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation.
Harassment Prevention Training: Farm Labor Contractors
SB 295 affects the sexual harassment prevention training that must be provided to receive a farm labor contractor’s license. The bill now requires that training be conducted or interpreted into a language understood by the employee, and that the Labor Commissioner receive a list of harassment prevention training materials used and the number of individuals trained.
Gender Identification: Female, Male or Nonbinary
SB 179 will allow California residents to choose from three equally recognized gender options — female, male or nonbinary — on state-issued identification cards, birth certificates and driver licenses. For changes to birth certificates, the law is effective on September 1, 2018. For changes to
driver licenses, the law is effective on January 1, 2019.
Employment Discrimination: Gender Neutral Language
AB 1556 revises California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act by deleting gender-specific personal pronouns in California’s anti-discrimination, anti-harassment, pregnancy disability and family/medical leave laws by changing “he” or “she,” for example, to “the person” or “the employee.”
Fair Pay Act Expansion
AB 46 extends California’s Fair Pay Act — which prohibits wage discrimination on the basis of gender, race and ethnicity — to cover public employers; existing law only covers private employers.
Data Collection: Sexual Orientation
AB 677 requires that, beginning no later than July 1, 2019, various state labor agencies collect voluntary, self-identified information pertaining to sexual orientation and gender identity in the regular course of collecting other types of demographic data.
LGBT Rights for Long-Term Care Facility Residents
SB 219 enacts the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Long-Term Care Facility Residents’ Bill of Rights, strengthening anti-discrimination protections for LGBT individuals living in long-term care facilities. Among other things, SB 219 makes it unlawful to willfully and repeatedly fail to use a resident’s preferred name or pronoun or to deny admission to a long-term care facility because of gender identity or sexual orientation. Facilities are required to post a notice about the protections and follow recordkeeping requirements.
Human Trafficking
AB 260 extends the list of businesses that must post a human trafficking information notice to include hotels, motels and bed and breakfast inns.
Meanwhile, SB 225 requires the human trafficking notice to include a new number for those who wish to send text messages. Businesses are not required to post the updated notice until on or after January 1, 2019.
Anti-Discrimination Protections for Veterans
AB 1710 expands the current protections for members of the armed services by prohibiting discrimination in all “terms, conditions, or privileges” of employment. This legislation conforms state law to the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) by protecting servicemembers in civilian jobs from hostile work environments.
Health Facilities: Whistleblower Protections
AB 1102 increases the maximum fine for a violation of whistleblower protections in healthcare facilities from $20,000 to $75,000.
Wage and Hour
A few new California laws affect employers’ wage-and-hour obligations in 2018, some of which are related to enforcement.
Keep in mind that on January 1, 2018, the state minimum wage increases to $10.50 per hour for employers with 25 or fewer employees and to $11 per hour for employers with 26 or more employees.
Labor Law Enforcement, Retaliation
SB 306 allows the Labor Commissioner to investigate an employer — even without a complaint from an employee — when the Labor Commissioner suspects retaliation or discrimination against a worker during a wage claim or other investigation. The Labor Commissioner also can obtain a court order prohibiting an employer from firing or disciplining an employee, even before completing its investigation or determining retaliation has occurred. SB 306 also creates a new citation process for alleged violations and penalties.
Increased Liability for Construction Contractors
For certain private construction contracts entered into after January 1, 2018, AB 1701 imposes liability onto the general contractor for any unpaid wages, benefits or contributions that a subcontractor owes to a laborer who performed work under the contract.
Barbering and Cosmetology
Two new laws affect barbering and cosmetology employers and licensees.
SB 490 allows workers licensed under the Barbering and Cosmetology Act to be paid a commission in addition to a base hourly rate if certain conditions are met.
AB 326 requires Board of Barbering and Cosmetology schools to include information on physical and sexual assault awareness in the required health and safety course for licensees beginning July 1, 2019.
Workplace Safety and Workers’ Compensation
SB 258 relates to the safety of designated cleaning products, including general cleaning, air care, automotive, or polish or floor maintenance products used primarily for janitorial, industrial or domestic cleaning purposes.
As for workers’ compensation, several bills were signed into law for 2018.
AB 44 requires employers to provide a nurse case manager to advocate for employees injured during the course of employment by an act of domestic terrorism, but only when the governor has declared a state of emergency. The Division of Workers’ Compensation will adopt regulations on the scope of the employer’s obligations and the contents of a required notice.
SB 189, which is effective on July 1, 2018, clarifies when owners, officers of businesses, members of boards of directors, general partners in a partnership and managing members of LLCs may be excluded from workers’ compensation laws.
AB 1422 extends the automatic stay on liens filed by medical providers who are charged with criminal fraud.
SB 489 extends the billing deadline for providers of emergency treatment services from 30 days to 180 days.
Full List of New Employment Laws
The full list of 2018 new employment laws is available in a free CalChamber white paper, available here.
The California Chamber of Commerce (CalChamber) is the largest broad-based business advocate to government in California. Membership represents one-quarter of the private sector jobs in California and includes firms of all sizes and companies from every industry within the state. Leveraging our front-line knowledge of laws and regulations, we provide products and services to help businesses comply with both federal and state law. CalChamber, a not-for-profit organization with roots dating to 1890, promotes international trade and investment in order to stimulate California’s economy and create jobs. Please visit our website at www.calchamber.com
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