New and Proposed Laws and Legislation

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With the recent enactment of Assembly Bill 2674 (which became effective on January 1, 2013) and the corresponding amendments to California Labor Code section 1198.5, the legislature has clarified the extent of an employee’s right to inspect personnel records related to performance or grievances concerning the employee.

As of January 1, an employer must maintain a copy of each employee’s personnel records for at least…

California Governor Jerry Brown has signed a new law protecting employee use of social media by prohibiting an employer from requiring or requesting an employee or applicant for employment to disclose a username or password for the purpose of accessing the employee’s personal social media.  Additionally, an employer may not require an employee or applicant to divulge any personal social media unless the employer reasonably…

Effective January 1, 2013, California employers will be required to accommodate their employees’ religious dress and grooming practices. Governor Brown has signed into law the “Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 2012” (authored by Assemblymember Mariko Yamada (D-Davis)), which specifies that religious dress and grooming practices shall be considered a protected religious observance under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act.  The bill defines “religious dress…

With California’s unemployment rate hovering around 11%, both employees and employers are sensitive to proposed legislature that could further increase the burdens on businesses and hamper economic growth. With these concerns in mind,the California Chamber of Commerce has released it’s annual a list of “Job Killer Bills,” which consists of 23 proposed laws that could negatively impact economic and job growth in California.

Included in…

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.

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.

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…

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. 

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 …