New Year, New California Laws: Six New Workplace Laws for 2023

Dec. 19

New Year, New California Laws: Six Laws California Employers Need to Prepare for Now

As we prepare to welcome 2023, California employers should also be prepared to welcome the implementation of new workplace laws. What regulations can employers expect to roll out in January 2023? We cover six new laws for California employers to prepare for the new year.

These laws will take effect January 1, 2023*.

1. SB 1162: Pay Transparency and Pay Data Reporting

The basics: Under the new law, employees can request and receive pay scale for their current position (including salary or hourly ranges the employer would expect to pay for the position)(existing law already requires an employer, upon reasonable request, to provide a pay scale for a position for an applicant applying for employment). Employers with 15 or more employees must include these pay scales in any job advertisement. The law also requires employers to maintain certain records, like job titles and wage rate histories for every employee during their employment and three (3) years after. Employers with 100 or more workers (including workers hired through staffing/labor contractor) must file an Annual Employer Information Report providing pay data reports annually to California’s Civil Rights Department, including mean and median hourly rates for each job category, race, and gender category within the jobs. For full details of the law, information here: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB1162

Recommendations: Employers should train managers and Human Resource professionals on employees’ rights to this information. Employers should ensure job postings are compliant with the law.

2. AB 1949: Bereavement Leave Rights

The basics: this law provides employees with the right to up to five (5) days of unpaid time off from work in the case of a death of a spouse, child, parent, or other qualifying family member.

The law requires that the leave is used within three (3) months of the date of death. Employers can ask employees for certain documentation within thirty (30) days of the death.

Recommendation: Employers should update leave policies in their Handbooks.

3. AB 1041: Changes/Expansions to Family Leave and Paid Sick Leave

The basics: This law expands the definition of “family members” contained in California’s paid sick leave law (Healthy Workplaces Healthy Families Act, HWHFA) and the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), allowing employees to take leave to care for a “designated person.” While both laws provide that employers can limit an employee to one designated person per 12-month period, the laws differ slightly in the way they define “designated person.”

Under the CFRA, a designated person means “any individual related by blood or whose association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship.” But under the HWHFA, a designated person is “a person identified by the employee at the time the employee requests paid sick days.” In other words, under HWHFA the designated person does not have to be related by blood to the employee and their association does not have to be like a family relationship. Theoretically, under HWHFA, a “designated person” could be a roommate or similar relation.

Important to note: There are also local ordinances in California that provide similar rights for the use of paid sick leave for a designated person (such as Oakland and San Francisco). The local ordinances differ slightly in their language from the state law. For example, under local ordinances, an employer must allow an employee to make a designation to apply to future leave requests shortly after the employee’s employment begins. Conversely, the HWHFA allows employees to designate a person at the time they request leave. Unfortunately, at the time of publication, we have not received guidance on how these laws may work together. Employers affected by local ordinances should continue to revisit this issue as guidance may develop.

Recommendation: Employers should update their leave policies to comply with the changes in the Act.

4. SB 1044: Workplace Emergency/Natural Disaster Rights in the Workplace

The basics: This law will prohibit employers from retaliating against workers who leave work or refuse to work (show up to work) due to emergency conditions, such as a natural disaster, criminal act, or order to evacuate or who refuses to show up to work because they feel unsafe due to an emergency condition.

Note:

A health pandemic is NOT covered under this law
Certain industries are exempted from this law (such as public safety industries like hospital workers, assisted living facility workers, first responders, etc)

Recommendations: Employers should train managers and Human Resource professionals on employees’ rights to this sort of leave, as well as clarification of retaliation. Employers may consider updating Handbook policies to reflect employees’ rights to this leave.

5. AB 152: Extends COVID-19 Paid Sick Leave Sunset

The basics: This law extends California’s COVID-19 paid sick leave through December 31, 2022 (it was set to sunset September 30, 2022).

Important to note:

What doesn’t change:
It does not create any additional leave rights for employees or entitlement to leave (other than what is already provided under the law). In other words, the law does not provide additional time for employees who have already used their COVID-19 leave.
Starting January 1, 2023, employers will no longer be obligated to provide paid COVID-19 sick leave.
What changes:
Employers can now request an employee to provide a second test for a positive COVID-19 test if the employee requests additional days off because they are still testing positive (employers can ask employees to test again).
Small Business and Nonprofit COVID-19 Relief Grant Program. It provides additional grant aid to help small businesses subsidize COVID-19 paid sick leave for employees who took supplemental paid sick leave between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2022. The grant information has yet to be released by California’s Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development. Eligibility will include employers with 26-49 employees and eligible employers may recover up to $50,000 over the course of the year and will have until January 1, 2024, to apply for the grant.

Recommendations: Employers may want to update COVID-19 Policies to reflect the extension of the law, as well as provide clarification of their right to seek a second test. Employers should monitor further guidance regarding subsidies if interested in applying with GO-Biz’s application rollout.

6. California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) – regulates the collection of personal data of California residents

The basics: Nearly all businesses with employees who are California residents will be required to implement certain notices, policies, and procedures relating to the collection of personal data of California employees. Though this law went into effect in California in January 2020, its provisions that apply to employee information do not take place until January 1, 2023, with enforcement beginning on July 1, 2023,*.

Initially called the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), in 2021, California voters approved Proposition 24, enacting the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) and extending the worker exemption until January 1, 2023. CCPA’s initial purpose was to provide data protection rights to California consumers, like the right to know what sort of data is being collected and the protection of certain personal data. While there was an exemption to exclude employees under the CCPA’s definition, with the approval of Proposition 24, the exemption will expire on January 1, 2023, making the law applicable to consumers who are acting as job applicants, employees, owners, director, medical staff member, or contractor of the business collecting the information under the CPRA. Any type of personal information can be covered under CPRAA, including certain employee data like birth dates, driver’s license numbers, religious or philosophical beliefs, union membership, health-related personal information, contents of mail, email and text messages, and Social Security numbers.

The law requires, in part, that employers disclose to employees how their data is being retained. To stay compliant, employers will need to develop a system to manage requests to access the information, provide notice to individuals explaining the type of personal information collected, as well as procedures to allow for an employee’s right to correct (or delete) certain information. The law also implicates businesses’ contracts with service providers that collect personal information.

Recommendations: Employers should develop policies and notices that will ensure compliance with this Act. While enforcement of the CPRA will not begin until July 1, 2023, enforcement will begin immediately without opportunities for employers to cure alleged violations. For that reason, employers should ensure compliance with the CPRA's regulations by January 1, 2023, but absolutely no later than July 1, 2023.

Conclusion

If you are an employer interested in developing policies to stay compliant with these new laws, Wagner Legal can help. Contact us today for a free consultation to discuss our California employer compliance services. And don’t forget to subscribe to receive the Legal Cut, a newsletter built to keep you informed with the latest legal insights of the entertainment industry!

lindsey wagner