California Employment Law Update : Labor and Employment Lawyers & Attorneys : Proskauer Rose Law Firm : Wage & Hour Laws, Disability, Workplace Safety

Last week, we reported that the California Labor Commissioner issued a template "Notice to Employee" as required by the Wage Theft Prevention Act of 2011 (the "Act"), which went into effect January 1. The Act requires employers to furnish specified wage information to certain non-exempt employees at the time of their hire.

As we also pointed out, the Commissioner's "Frequently Asked Questions," published December 30, 2011, stated that the Notice (or the information contained therein) must be given to all current employees, despite the fact that the statute calls only for employers to provide such data to employees "at the time of hiring." We placed a call to the DLSE shortly after the FAQs were issued, and the agency responded yesterday by updating its Web site. The FAQs, which can be found here, now reflect that the information required under new Labor Code § 2810.5 need only be provided at the time of hiring and within 7 days of a change in such information, if the change is not listed on the employee's pay stub for the following pay period.

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Please visit the update to this entry, available here.

On the eve of the implementation of California’s Wage Theft Prevention Act of 2011, the California Labor Commissioner has made available to employers a template Notice (Word / pdf) that complies with the requirements of new Labor Code § 2810.5. Beginning January 1, 2012, Section 2810.5 requires employers to furnish specified wage information captured by the Notice to most non-exempt employees. All required information must be provided to employees in the language that the employer normally uses to communicate employment-related information.

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Earlier this year, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law AB 469 (pdf), entitled the “Wage Theft Prevention Act of 2011,” which adds Section 2810.5 to the Labor Code and requires employers to furnish to non-exempt employees, at the time of hiring, a notice specifying (among other things) the employee’s rate or rates of pay and the basis on which the employee’s wages are to be calculated. While the California Labor Commissioner had indicated that it would issue a notice template and guidance to employers by mid-December, it has yet to provide any such guidance.  While employers wait for the Commissioner to act, Proskauer has prepared a notice form that companies can utilize in the interim. Proskauer attorneys have extensive experience in this area, as the firm has long assisted its clients in complying with similar requirements under New York state law.  For further information on compliance with the California or New York statutes, please contact Enzo Der Boghossian at ederboghossian@proskauer.com (California) or Fred Leffler at fleffler@proskauer.com (New York).

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In the wake of a challenge by the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") has again agreed to postpone the effective date of a controversial regulation that would require most employers to post a notice informing employees about their rights under the National Labor Relations Act. 

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California Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law a number of bills addressing a wide array of issues that could significantly impact employers in the coming year. Read on for an overview of some of these new laws and their key provisions.

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The number of protected classes under California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”), Cal. Gov’t Code § 12900 et seq., has risen by one. The FEHA, together with the Unruh Civil Rights Act, Cal. Civ. Code § 51, currently prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodation, and services provided by business establishments on the basis of various personal characteristics such as sex, race, color, national origin, religion, and disability. Additional protections have been added over time to include within the purview of these anti-discrimination statutes medical condition, marital status, and sexual orientation. Earlier this month, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Senate Bill 559 (“SB 559”) (pdf), which adds genetic discrimination to the list of prohibited practices in California. “Genetic information” is defined by the bill as (1) the individual’s genetic tests; (2) the genetic tests of family members of the individual; and (3) the manifestation of a disease or disorder in family members of the individual. The bill’s proponents insist that because many genetic disorders are associated with particular racial, social, or ethnic groups, the new law will prevent genetic information from being used to stigmatize or unfairly discriminate against these groups. SB 559 augments the federal Genetic Information and Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-233, whose range of protections was deemed by the California Legislature to be “incomplete for Californians.” SB 559, § 1(j). The practical effect of the law on employers remains to be seen, but for now we note that SB 559 touches not only the areas of housing and employment generally, but also licensing boards, life insurance coverage, and state-administered and funded programs.

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With California’s unemployment rate among the highest in the nation, employers doing business in the state are particularly sensitive to new legislation that would further increase the burdens on businesses and hamper economic growth. With these concerns in mind, the California Chamber of Commerce has released its annual list of "Job Killer Bills," which consists this year of 28 proposed laws that would impose even more costly workplace and employee benefit mandates, economic development barriers, expensive regulatory burdens and inflated liability costs. Included in the list are statutes that would automatically index the California minimum wage to the rate of inflation, increase taxes on small businesses, expand the scope of employee leaves, and limit employer use of consumer credit reports. The Chamber of Commerce hopes its list will bring greater awareness to the myriad challenges California employers face: "We simply cannot allow California to continue to be ranked as having one of the worst business climates in the country," said Allan Zarember, President and CEO of the California Chamber of Commerce.

The 2011 "job killer" bill list is available here.

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The Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (“VEVRAA”) creates a variety of affirmative action obligations for employers with federal government contracts. The Act was amended in 2002 by the Jobs for Veterans Act (“JVA”). In May 2008, the Department of Labor finalized rules that implement changes to these obligations made by the JVA for employers with federal government contracts that are entered into or modified on or after December 1, 2003. Employers with federal contracts entered into before December 1, 2003 must continue to comply with VEVRAA’s pre-JVA requirements, and employers with contracts in both categories are required to comply with both the new and the old regulations.

Most of the affirmative action requirements set out in VEVRAA remain unchanged by the JVA. This Tip of the Month outlines several important requirements under VEVRAA, and highlights the key changes created by the JVA.

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