Read more about the new laws affecting employers in California.

The Governor has signed Assembly Bill 1506 (AB 1506) which extends the existing exemption for three more years for newspaper distributors and carriers from the “ABC Test” under Dynamex and Assembly Bill 5. The bill takes into account the reality that newspaper carriers often work for more than one newspaper, and requiring carriers to be classified as employees, would limit carriers’ opportunities and drive up the cost of newspaper deliveries.  The bill also requires newspaper distributors to submit specified information to the Labor and Workforce Development Agency on the number of carriers for which the publisher or distributor paid and did not pay payroll taxes for, as well as the wage rates and information to demonstrate compliance of their carrier with the Borello test, which is a multi-factor test for determining worker classification.

Jackson Lewis will continue tracking state legislation that is relevant to employers. If you have questions about the effects of this or other recent legislation contact a Jackson Lewis attorney to discuss.

Current law authorizes employers to pay less than minimum wage for employees with physical or mental disabilities under a subminimum wage certificate program.

California’s Governor has signed Senate Bill 639 (SB 639) which requires the development of a plan to phase out the use of this program. Under SB 639, the program will be phased out by January 1, 2025, and no new special licenses will be issued under the program after January 1, 2022.

Existing license holders will be required to meet benchmarks provided for in the phaseout plan in order to be relicensed.

Jackson Lewis will continue tracking state legislation that is relevant to employers. If you have questions about the effects of this or other recent legislation contact a Jackson Lewis attorney to discuss.

On September 27, 2021, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 646 (SB 646), which limits janitorial employees represented by a labor organization and covered by a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) in effect before July 1, 2028, from filing suit under the Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (California Labor Code § 2689, et seq.)(PAGA).

Under SB 646, janitorial employees are no longer authorized to bring a civil action under PAGA if the applicable CBA provides for wages, hours worked (including overtime), and working conditions and fulfills other specified criteria.  “Janitorial employee” means an employee whose primary duties are “to clean and keep in an orderly condition commercial working areas and washrooms, or the premises of an office, multiunit residential facility, industrial facility, health care facility, amusement park, convention center, stadium, racetrack, arena, or retail establishment.”

The exemption does not cover the following:

  • Workers who specialize in window washing
  • Housekeeping staff who make beds and change linens as a primary responsibility
  • Workers working at airport facilities or cabin cleaning
  • Workers at hotels, card clubs, restaurants, or other foodservice operations
  • Grocery store employees and drug retail employees.

This PAGA exemption expires on the date the CBA expires or July 1, 2028, whichever is earlier.

This bill becomes effective January 1, 2022, and does not preclude a janitorial employee from pursuing any other civil action against their employer.

Jackson Lewis will continue tracking state legislation that is relevant to employers. If you have questions about the effects of this or other recent legislation contact a Jackson Lewis attorney to discuss.

On September 27, 2021, the Governor of California signed Assembly Bill 73 (AB 73) which expands worker protections from wildfire smoke.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, California enacted Health & Safety Code section 131021 last year.  It requires the State Department of Public Health and Office of Emergency Services to establish a stockpile of personal protective equipment (PPE) to address pandemics and other health emergencies.  In developing the guidelines for creating this stockpile, the Department must consider, among other things, the amount and type of PPE required for health care workers and other “essential workers” during a 90-day period.

AB 73 broadens the scope of this law to specify that wildfire smoke events are considered health emergencies for these purposes.  In addition, the definition of an “essential worker” was expanded to include agricultural workers.  The bill goes into effect immediately.  As a practical result, the Department and Office of Emergency Services will need to re-evaluate the PPE stockpile to ensure it includes sufficient PPE to address wildfire smoke events and to protect agricultural workers during pandemics, wildfire smoke events, and other health emergencies.

The bill also requires the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Division) to review and update the wildfire smoke training requirements that employers must follow.  Critically, the employee training needs to be provided in a language and manner that is readily understandable by employees.  Updates to these training requirements will be posted on the Division’s website.

Jackson Lewis will continue tracking state legislation that is relevant to employers. If you have questions about the effects of this recent legislation or related issues with Cal/OSHA compliance, please reach out to the Jackson Lewis attorney with whom you often work or any member of our Workplace Safety and Health Team.

California’s Governor has signed Senate Bill 606 (SB 606), which authorizes Cal/OSHA to issue a citation for egregious violation of an occupational safety or health standard, order, special order, or regulation for each willful violation determined by Cal/OSHA, and count each employee affected by the violation as a separate violation for purposes of the issuance of fines and penalties. This would mean that the maximum penalty would be per violation, per employee.

A violation is deemed egregious under the bill if one or more of the following is true:

  • The employer, intentionally through voluntary action or inaction, made no reasonable effort to eliminate the known violation.
  • The violations resulted in worker fatalities, a worksite catastrophe, or a large number of injuries or illnesses.
  • The violations resulted in persistently high rates of worker injuries or illnesses.
  •  The employer has an extensive history of prior violations of this section of the labor code.
  • The employer has intentionally disregarded their health and safety responsibilities.
  • The employer’s conduct, taken as a whole, amounts to clear bad faith in the performance of their duties to provide occupational safety to their employees.
  • The employer has committed a large number of violations to undermine the effectiveness of any safety and health program that might be in place.

This bill takes effect on January 1, 2022.

Jackson Lewis will continue tracking state legislation that is relevant to employers. If you have questions about the effects of this or other recent legislation contact a Jackson Lewis attorney to discuss.

On September 27, 2021, the Governor signed Senate Bill 62 (SB 62), which expands the definition of the garment manufacturing industry for purposes of wage claim enforcement to include brand guarantors.  A brand guarantor is a person who contracts for the performance of garment manufacturing.

SB 62 specifies that a garment manufacturer, contractor, or brand guarantor who contracts with another person for the purpose of garment manufacturing operations would be jointly and severally liable with any other manufacturer or contract for an employee’s full amount of unpaid wages and any other compensation, including interest, attorney’s fees, and civil penalties, as specified in the Labor Code if a violation is found.  Garment manufacturers and contractors would be liable for the full amount of damages and penalties for any violation, as specified in the Labor Code.

SB 62 also prohibits any employee engaged in the performance of garment manufacturing to be paid by the piece or unit, or by piece rate, except for workplaces covered by a collective bargaining agreement.  Employers must pay employees who are engaged in the process of garment manufacturing no less than minimum wage.  Garment manufacturers and contractors may be subject to statutory damages per employee for each pay period during which an employee is paid by the piece or unit.

SB 62 will take effect on January 1, 2022.

Jackson Lewis will continue tracking state legislation that is relevant to employers. If you have questions about the effects of this or other recent legislation contact a Jackson Lewis attorney to discuss

On September 27, 2021, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1033 (AB 1033), which provides that employers must grant eligible employees up to 12 weeks of job-protected time off from work annually for the purposes of providing care to a parent-in-law with a serious medical condition under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA).

The bill also modifies procedural aspects of the Department of Fair Employment and Housing’s (DFEH) pilot program for mediating family leave disputes between small businesses and their employees. When a small business employee requests an immediate right-to-sue letter based on an alleged CFRA violation, that employee must inform DFEH’s mediation program of the employee’s intent to file a civil action in court prior to filing that action. The bill also sets forth other requirements for completion of the DFEH mediation program prior to an employee’s claim proceeding to a civil court.

This legislation goes into effect on January 1, 2022.

Jackson Lewis will continue tracking state legislation that is relevant to employers. If you have questions about the effects of this or other recent legislation contact a Jackson Lewis attorney to discuss.

Employers of all sizes, potentially including individual owners, managers and executives, should be aware of heavier penalties or jail time for engaging in wage theft. According to the California Labor Commissioner’s Office, wage theft occurs anytime an employer does not pay workers what they are owed by law.

California’s Governor signed Assembly Bill 1003 (AB 1003), which creates a new type of grand theft for the intentional theft of wages in an amount greater than $950 from any one employee, or $2,350 in the aggregate from two or more employees by an employer in any consecutive 12-month period. Following the trend of other recently passed laws broadening the scope of legal protections for workers, this legislation includes independent contractors within the meaning of employee. Therefore, hiring entities of independent contractors would face the same penalties or jail time for engaging in wage theft.

The new legislation allows wages, tips, or other compensation that are the subject of a prosecution to be recovered as restitution. Under existing law, grand theft is punishable either as a misdemeanor by imprisonment in a county jail for up to 1 year or as a felony by imprisonment in county jail for 16 months or 2 or 3 years, by a specified fine, or by a fine and that imprisonment.

All employers and hiring entities of independent contractors should work to ensure their compensation policies and practices are fully compliant with existing laws.

Jackson Lewis will continue tracking state legislation that is relevant to employers. If you have questions about the effects of this or other recent legislation contact a Jackson Lewis attorney to discuss.

There are many employment law bills currently sitting on Governor Newsom’s desk, but back in July the Governor signed Senate Bill 657 (SB 657) to make a small change assisting employers with remote workers. SB 657 allows that in any instance in which an employer is required to physically post information, an employer may also distribute that information to employees by email with the document or documents attached.

While this does not remove an employer’s obligation to physically display postings as required, the measure is intended to clarify the employer’s ability to communicate required information more effectively.

This statute takes effect on January 1, 2022.

Jackson Lewis will continue tracking state legislation that is relevant to employers. If you have questions about the effects of this or other recent legislation contact a Jackson Lewis attorney to discuss.