California lawmakers finished the legislative session by enacting several employment-related bills signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom.
Below are some of the new laws that employers need to be aware of.
- Intersectionality recognized. Legislators passed Senate Bill 1137, making California the first state to explicitly recognize the term “intersectionality.” The term is defined in the bill as “captur[ing] the unique, interlocking forms of discrimination and harassment experienced by individuals in the workplace and throughout society, particularly Black women, as compared to Black men and White women.” The new law expressly protects the combination of any two or more characteristics protected under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), including race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, age, sexual orientation, reproductive health decision making or veteran or military status, from discrimination.
- Hairstyle protections. Assembly Bill 1815 amended FEHA to remove the term “historically” from the definitions of race, broadening the term to include traits associated with race, including hair texture and protective hairstyles. These protections include (but are not limited to) braids, locs and twists.
- Jury, court and victim time off changes. Jury, court and victim time off provisions were revised and recast by Assembly Bill 2499, moving enforcement authority to the Civil Rights Department. The bill also updated definitions such as a “qualifying act of violence” instead of crime or abuse, and “victim” as “an individual against whom a qualifying act of violence is committed.” Pursuant to the new law, an employer with 25 or more employees is prohibited from discharging or in any manner discriminating or retaliating against an employee who is a victim or who has a family member who is a victim for taking time off work for any of the prescribed purposes relating to a qualifying act of violence, including an employee who takes time off for jury service, takes time off to appear in court as a witness under a court order, is a victim and takes time off to obtain relief for their child’s health, safety or welfare and if a victim takes time off to assist a family member for various reasons related to a qualifying act of violence. Employers are permitted to limit the total leave taken and require that the leave runs concurrently with Family and Medical Leave Act leave.
- Driver’s license requests banned. Statements in employment materials—such as a job advertisement, posting or application—that an applicant must have a driver’s license are now banned with the passage of Senate Bill 1100. Exceptions exist where the employer reasonably expects the duties of the position to require driving and reasonably believes that an alternative form of transportation (for example, a taxi, carpooling, bicycling, walking or a ride hailing service) would not be comparable in travel time or cost to the employer.
- Captive meetings prohibited. Employers are now prohibited from subjecting or threatening adverse action against any employee who declines to attend, participate in, receive or listen to an employer-sponsored meeting or communications regarding the employer’s opinion about religious or political matters, pursuant to Senate Bill 399. For purposes of the law, “political matters” means matters relating to elections for political office, political parties, legislation, regulation and the decision to join or support any political party or a labor organization; “religious matters” covers matters relating to religious affiliation and practice and the decision to join or support any religious organization or association. Employers face a $500 per employee civil penalty for each violation.
Why it matters:
While the legislative compromise enacting long-awaited changes to the Private Attorneys General Act was, arguably, the biggest news in employment-related California legislation this term, employers should familiarize themselves with the other new laws.