Governor Davis has signed many new laws of interest to employers, ranging from creating a paid family leave program to implementing new layoff notice requirements; from new prohibitions against age discrimination to important changes to consumer report laws; from new restrictions on absence control policies to additional guidelines on responding to employee requests to view personnel files; and much more. In upcoming issues of CEA, we’ll have full details on what you need to know about the new laws that will affect your obligations as an employer.
In addition, some controversial employment-related measures that were on the Governor’s desk didn’t make it into law. These include: S.B. 1538, which banned mandatory arbitration of employment discrimination disputes; A.B. 2987, which boosted penalties for various Labor Code violations, including failure to pay the minimum wage; A.B. 2752, which strengthened protections for workers who complain about safety violations; A.B. 2989, which mandated severance pay for laid off workers under certain circumstances; A.B. 2845, which required new state ergonomics standards; and S.B. 783, which expanded whistleblower protections.