Industry:HR Compliance Added By:Admin Posted On:Jan. 6, 2020
California is known for employment laws that go further than federal law in protecting workers, from rules on cannabis use to equal treatment of LGBTQ employees. For employers, keeping up with California employment law means tracking changes that often take effect at the start of each year. This article covers the main compliance areas, how the rules have changed in recent years and what employers should review in their own policies.
Visual, verbal and physical conduct can all count as sexual harassment under California law. The state agency that enforces these rules, formerly the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), is now called the Civil Rights Department (CRD). Harassment can lead to serious penalties for those responsible.
Employers with 5 or more employees must provide at least 2 hours of interactive sexual harassment training to supervisors and at least one hour to nonsupervisory employees. The deadline for the first round was January 1, 2021, and training must be repeated every two years.
The law also bars discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, color and disability. AB 9, known as the Stop Harassment and Reporting Extension (SHARE) Act, extended the time to file a complaint with the state from one year to three years, effective in 2020.
Non-exempt employees who work more than 5 hours in a day are entitled to an uninterrupted, duty-free meal break of 30 minutes. They also get a paid 10-minute rest break for every 4 hours worked. These rules are more generous than federal labor law, so employers that operate in several states should not assume one break policy fits all locations.
If an employer fails to provide the required breaks, it owes the employee one extra hour of regular pay for each day a meal break violation occurs, and another extra hour for each day a rest break violation occurs.
Cannabis remains illegal under federal law, including for medical use. In California, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) legalized adult recreational use, but it does not require employers to allow cannabis use or impairment at work, and employers may keep a drug-free workplace.
Since January 1, 2024, California law has barred most employers with five or more employees from discriminating against applicants or employees for off-duty, off-site cannabis use, or for drug tests that detect only nonpsychoactive cannabis metabolites. Employers can still act on impairment at work, and some jobs, such as those requiring a federal background check, are exempt.
Employees can use paid sick leave when they or a family member need medical care. Employers can provide it in two ways: accrual based on hours worked, or frontloading, where the full amount is given in one lump sum at the start of the year.
Under the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014, employees who work for the same employer for at least 30 days within a year in California are eligible. Since January 1, 2024, employers must allow employees to use at least 40 hours or five days of paid sick leave per year, up from 24 hours or 3 days. Employers may require leave to be taken in increments of no more than two hours.
Paid time off (PTO) and vacation are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same. PTO is the broader category, and vacation is one part of it. Federal law does not require PTO, so policies vary by state and by employer.
With vacation, employees can usually take paid leave when they choose, as long as they give reasonable notice of when they will be away and when they will return. Pregnancy leave, jury duty, holiday pay, sick leave and disability leave are not vacation, though some may fall under a PTO policy. Employers should understand the difference, and how California treats vacation, before writing their PTO and vacation policies. A clear written policy that explains how each type of leave is earned, requested and paid helps avoid disputes later.
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) took effect on January 1, 2020, after the bill was passed in June 2018. It gives consumers more control over their personal data, including the right to know who it is shared with, and in some data breach cases the right to sue. Attorney General enforcement began several months after the effective date.
Employee data was largely exempt at first. That exemption expired, and since January 1, 2023, when the CPRA amendments took effect, covered businesses must apply CCPA protections to the personal information of employees, job applicants and contractors.