Last Friday, Sept. 9, was the last day for the California House and Senate to pass bills. In the last-minute flurry of activity, a number of important employment-related measures made it to Governor Schwarzenegger’s desk, and he now has until Oct. 9 to sign or veto the bills. Some of the important workplace measures now before the governor include:
–A.B. 48 would raise the minimum hourly wage for California workers to $7.75 over two years, from the current $6.75.
–S.B. 174 would expand the existing “sue your boss” law to permit workers who are suing to recover the minimum wage or overtime to bring class action suits without having to meet the strict guidelines for class action lawsuits, provided the employees were receiving less than two times the minimum wage at the time of the pay violation.
–A.B. 391 would permit employees who are locked out as part of a labor dispute to collect unemployment insurance benefits.
Join us this fall in San Francisco for the California Employment Law Update conference, a 3-day event that will teach you everything you need to know about new laws and regulations, and your compliance obligations, for the year ahead—it’s one-stop shopping at its best.
–A.B. 875 would allow state agencies to share information in order to target for investigation employers that violate labor or tax rules.
–S.B. 1023 would set new penalties of up to $5,000 for insurers or self-insured employers that fail to fully comply with an order or award of the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board within 10 calendar days after the order or award becomes final.
–A.B. 89 would require the state to report data on employers who have 25 or more employees who are enrolled in Medi-Cal, a state-funded public health care program.
We’ll keep you posted on the status of these bills and others of interest to employers. To view these measures in the meantime, click here.