On October 14, Gov. Schwarzenegger wrapped up his review of pending measures, signing bills that are of interest to employers and vetoing many others. Join the Employer Resource Institute and noted California employment law experts on December 10-12 at the historic Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, California, for a full rundown on legislation California employers need to know about for the coming new year. Brand-new laws you’ll learn about include:
- S.B. 929, which decreases the minimum hourly wage for exempt computer software employees to $36 from the current $49.77
- A.B. 812, which triples the workers’ compensation premiums for employers that fail to cooperate with workers’ comp insurers’ payroll audit requests
- S.B. 392, which provides employees up to 10 days’ unpaid leave when a military spouse is home on leave from military deployment
Key bills that were passed by the Legislature and vetoed by Gov. Schwarzenegger include:
- A.B. 8, which would have required employers to provide health care coverage or pay into a universal health care purchasing pool. Note that despite this veto, the governor and Legislature are still attempting to hammer out a health care solution. We’ll keep you posted.
- A.B. 537 and S.B. 727, which would have expanded the California Family Rights Act and California’s Paid Family Leave program to include leave to care for a sibling, parent-in-law, grandparent, grandchild, or adult independent child.
- S.B. 549, which would have authorized employees to take up to four days of bereavement leave upon the death of specified family members.
- S.B. 836, which would have added “familial status” to the list of prohibited bases of discrimination under the Fair Employment and Housing Act.
- A.B. 1710, which would have eased time restrictions on wage payments to temporary employees.
- A.B. 1707, which would have imposed a $750 fine for an employer’s failure to permit an employee or former employee to inspect personnel records.
- S.B. 622, which would have imposed fines of up to $25,000 for deliberate misclassification of employees as independent contractors.
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.
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