California Employment And Labor Law Updates 2022

Table Of Contents

December
November
October
September
August
July
June
- Employment
May
April
March
February
January

December

There were no employment and/or labor bills that were enacted that were identified.

November

There were no employment and/or labor bills that were enacted that were identified.

October

There were no employment and/or labor bills that were enacted that were identified.

September

Nonattainment Basins: Employee Parking

Bill

Senate Bill 2206 (2021)

Summary

Revises the definitions of employer, parking cash-out program, and parking subsidy. Requires an employer to maintain a record of communication with each employee who receives a parking subsidy that those employees have been informed of their right to receive the cash equivalent of the parking subsidy. Imposes specified duties upon the State Air Resources Board.

Enacted

09/29/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Wage_and_Hour: Transportation_bene

Meal and Rest Periods: Hospital Employees

Bill

Senate Bill 1334 (2021)

Summary

Entitles employees who provide direct patient care or support direct patient care in a general acute care hospital, clinic, or public health setting directly employed by specified public sector employers to one unpaid 30-minute meal period on shifts over 5 hours and a 2nd unpaid 30-minute meal period on shifts over 10 hours, as provided by specified existing law. Authorizes these employees to waive those meal periods and would provide for on-duty meal periods, as provided by specified existing law.

Enacted

09/29/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Industry: Public_employer

Employers: Emergency Condition: Retaliation

Bill

Senate Bill 1044 (2021)

Summary

Prohibits an employer, in the event of an emergency condition, as defined, from taking or threatening adverse action against any employee for refusing to report to, or leaving, a workplace or worksite within the affected area because the employee has a reasonable belief that the workplace or worksite is unsafe, except as specified.

Enacted

09/29/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Leave_laws: Emergency

Employers: Emergency Condition: Retaliation

Bill

Senate Bill 1044 (2021)

Summary

Enacted

09/29/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Leave_laws: Emergency

Public Employment: Peace Officers: Citizenship

Bill

Senate Bill 960 (2021)

Summary

Relates to the Commission on Peace Officer Standards, which requires peace officers in this state to meet specified minimum standards. Provides that those standards shall be interpreted and applied consistent with federal law and regulations, as specified.

Enacted

09/29/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Industry: Public_employer

Gender Affirming Care

Bill

Senate Bill 923 (2021)

Summary

Requires a Medi-Cal managed care plan, a PACE organization, a health care service plan, or a health insurer, and delegated entities, as specified, to require its staff to complete evidence-based cultural competency training for the purpose of providing trans-inclusive health care, as defined, for individuals who identify as transgender, gender diverse, or intersex (TGI).

Enacted

09/29/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Employer_Obligations: Training, Trans-inclusivity

COVID-19: Exposure

Bill

Assembly Bill 2693 (2021)

Summary

Provides that if an employer or representative of the employer receives a notice of potential exposure to COVID-19, the employer is required to take specified actions within one business day of the notice of potential exposure, including providing written notice to all employees on the premises that they may have been exposed. Revises and recasts those notification requirements to, among other things, authorize an employer to satisfy the notification requirements by prominently display a notice.

Enacted

09/29/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Covid: Covid; Employer_Obligations: Exposure, Notice, Written; Workplace_Behavior: Health

Lunar New Year Holiday

Bill

Assembly Bill 2596 (2021)

Summary

Recognizes the “Lunar New Year” as a state holiday. Authorizes state employees, with specified exceptions, to elect to receive 8 hours of holiday credit for the “Lunar New Year” in lieu of receiving 8 hours of personal holiday credit, and to elect to use 8 hours of vacation, annual leave, or compensating time off, consistent with departmental operational needs and collective bargaining agreements, for “Lunar New Year,” as specified.

Enacted

09/29/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Leave_laws: Holidays

Occupational Safety and Health Standards: Heat Illness

Bill

Assembly Bill 2243 (2021)

Summary

Requires the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, before December 1, 2025, to submit to the Health Standards Board a rulemaking proposal to consider revising the heat illness standard and wildfire smoke standard. Requires a rulemaking proposal to consider revising the wildfire smoke standard, with regard to farmworkers, to reduce the existing air quality index threshold for PM2.5 particulate matter at which control by respiratory protective equipment becomes mandatory for farmworkers.

Enacted

09/29/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Workplace_Behavior: Health, Heat, Safety

Employees: Bereavement Leave

Bill

Assembly Bill 1949 (2021)

Summary

Makes it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to refuse to grant a request by an eligible employee to take up to 5 days of bereavement leave upon the death of a family member, as defined. Requires that leave be completed within 3 months of the date of death. Requires that leave be taken pursuant to any existing bereavement leave policy of the employer.

Enacted

09/29/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Employee_obligation: Documentation; Employer_obligations; Confidential_info; Family_members: Child, Parent, Sibling, Grandparent, Grandchild, Domestic_partner, In-law; Leave: Bereavement, Unpaid-leave; Prohibited_practices: Retaliation

State Holidays: Genocide Remembrance Day

Bill

Assembly Bill 1801 (2021)

Summary

Adds specified date, known as Genocide Remembrance Day, to the list of state holidays. Authorizes community colleges and public schools to close on specified date. Authorizes state employees to elect to take time off with pay in recognition of Genocide Remembrance Day, as specified.

Enacted

09/29/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Leave_laws: Holidays

Occupational Safety: Live Events

Bill

Assembly Bill 1775 (2021)

Summary

Requires a contracting entity, as defined, to require an entertainment events vendor to certify for its employees and employees of its subcontractors that those individuals have complied with specified training, certification, and workforce requirements, including that employees involved in the setting up, operation, or tearing down of a live event at its public events venue, as defined, have completed prescribed trainings of the United States Department of Labor.

Enacted

09/29/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Employer_Obligations: Training; Industry: Entertainment_venues; Workplace_Behavior: Health, Safety

State Holidays: Juneteenth

Bill

Assembly Bill 1655 (2021)

Summary

Adds June 19, known as Juneteenth to the list of state holidays. Specifies that holidays created by federal legislation signed by the President are considered days appointed as holidays for the purposes of requiring community colleges and public schools to close. Authorizes state employees to elect to take time off with pay in recognition of Juneteenth.

Enacted

09/29/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Leave_laws: Holidays, Juneteenth

Employment Protections

Bill

Assembly Bill 1601 (2021)

Summary

Authorizes the Labor Commissioner to enforce certain notice requirements concerning a mass layoff, relocation, or termination of employees, including call center employees. Grants the Labor Commissioner the authority to investigate an alleged violation, order appropriate temporary relief to mitigate a violation pending completion of a full investigation or hearing, and issue a citation in accordance with certain procedures.

Enacted

09/29/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Employer_Obligations: Relocation, Reporting_required; Industry: Call_center, Govt_contractor

Employment Leave

Bill

Assembly Bill 1041 (2021)

Summary

Expands the class of people for whom an employee may take leave to care for to include a designated person. Defines “designated person” to mean any individual related by blood or whose association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship. Authorizes a designated person to be identified at the time the employee requests the leave. Expands the definition of the term “family member” to include a designated person.

Enacted

09/29/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Family_members: Designated_person; Leave_laws: Family, Medical

COVID-19 Relief: Supplemental Paid Sick Leave

Bill

Assembly Bill 152 (2021)

Summary

Establishes the California Small Business and Nonprofit COVID-19 Relief Grant Program within GO-Biz to assist qualified small businesses or nonprofits that are incurring costs for Coronavirus 2019 supplemental paid sick leave. Requires GO-Biz to provide grants to qualified small businesses or nonprofits, as defined. Appropriates funds.

Enacted

09/29/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Covid: Covid; Leave_laws: Sick

Agricultural Labor Relations: Elections

Bill

Assembly Bill 2183 (2021)

Summary

Refers to the election by secret ballot process for a collective bargaining unit as a polling place election. Establishes alternative procedures to the polling place election and authorize a labor organization to be certified as the exclusive bargaining representative of a bargaining unit through either a labor peace election or a non-labor peace election, as prescribed, dependent on whether an employer enrolls and agrees to a labor peace election for labor organization representation campaigns.

Enacted

09/28/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Industry: Agriculture; Labor_Law: Labor_law

Respiratory Therapy

Bill

Senate Bill 1436 (2021)

Summary

Requires an employer of a respiratory care practitioner to report to the Respiratory Care Board of California for the leave or resignation for cause of a practitioner whom they employ. Provides that the temporary performance of respiratory care services as identified and authorized by the board in the event of an epidemic, pandemic, public disaster, or emergency would not violate the Respiratory Care Practice Act.

Enacted

09/27/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Employer_Obligations: Reporting_required; Employment_relations: Suspension, Termination;
Industry: Respiratory_care

Employment: Salaries and Wages

Bill

Senate Bill 1162 (2021)

Summary

Requires a private employer that has 100 or more employees to submit a pay data report to the Civil Rights Department. Revises the timeframe in which a private employer is required to submit specified information to require that it be provided on or before the second Wednesday of May 2023, and for each year thereafter on or before the second Wednesday of May.

Enacted

09/27/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Employer_Obligations: Recordkeeping, Reporting_required

Community Care Facilities: Criminal Background Checks

Bill

Senate Bill 1093 (2021)

Summary

Requires a request for a transfer of a criminal record clearance to be submitted on a form provided by the Department of Social Services or via the department’s secure online portal. Permits the licensee to verify the individual’s identity and removes the requirement for an individual to submit a copy of their driver’s license or other valid government-issued identification along with a request for transfer of a criminal record clearance.

Enacted

09/27/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Employer_Obligations: Background_checks; Criminal_history; Industry: Child_care, Community_care, Home_care, Residential_care

Care Facilities: Criminal Background Checks

Bill

Assembly Bill 1720 (2021)

Summary

Authorizes the Department of Social Services to grant a simplified criminal record exemption to an applicant for a license or special permit to operate or manage certain facilities and the specified individuals connected with these facilities, if certain criteria is met. Provides that the bill would no longer require specified individuals connected with these facilities or home care aide applicants to sign a declaration under penalty of perjury regarding any prior criminal convictions.

Enacted

09/27/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Employer_Obligations: Background_checks; Criminal_history; Industry: Child_care, Community_care, Residential_care

Address Confidentiality: Public Entity Employees

Bill

Senate Bill 1131 (2021)

Summary

Authorizes an applicant seeking address confidentiality under an address confidentiality program to submit a certified statement by the employee, patient, or volunteer for a reproductive health care services facility that they have been the target of threats, harassment, or acts of violence, or a workplace violence restraining order issued because of threats or acts of violence connected with a reproductive health care services facility.

Enacted

09/26/2022

Effective Date

09/26/2022

Topics

Employer_Obligations: Confidential_info; Industry: Govt_contractor

Occupational Safety and Health: Postings

Bill

Assembly Bill 2068 (2021)

Summary

Requires an employer to post an employee notification containing specified information when certain citations or orders are issued. Requires this notification, in addition to English, to be made available in specified languages. Makes a violation of these provisions enforceable by a civil penalty, as specified.

Enacted

09/23/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2022

Topics

Employer_Obligations: Language, Posting_requirement; Workplace_Behavior: Health, Safety

Local Public Employee Organizations

Bill

Assembly Bill 2556 (2021)

Summary

Authorizes a recognized employee organization to charge an employee covered by the Firefighters Procedural Bill of Rights Act for the reasonable cost of representation when the employee holds a conscientious objection, as specified, or declines membership in the organization and requests individual representation in a discipline, grievance, arbitration, or administrative hearing from the organization.

Enacted

09/18/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Industry: Public_employer

Discrimination in Employment: Use of Cannabis

Bill

Assembly Bill 2188 (2021)

Summary

Makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a person in hiring, termination, or any term or condition of employment, or otherwise penalize a person, if the discrimination is based upon the person’ s use of cannabis off the job and away from the workplace, except for preemployment drug screening, as specified, or upon an employer-required drug screening test that has found the person to have nonpsychoactive cannabis metabolites in their hair, blood, urine, or other bodily fluids.

Enacted

09/18/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Prohibited_Practices: Cannabis, Discrimination, Marijuana

Military Service: Leave of Absence: Pay and Benefits

Bill

Senate Bill 984 (2021)

Summary

Relates to law that authorizes National Guard employee members to elect to use vacation time or accumulated compensatory time off to attend scheduled reserve drill periods or perform other inactive duty reserve obligations. Recasts those provisions to instead require that employee members of reserve military units and the National Guard required to perform inactive duty obligations, other than inactive and active duty training drill periods, as specified, be granted military leave of absence without pay.

Enacted

09/17/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Leave_laws: Military

Civil Service: The Upward Mobility Act of 2022

Bill

Assembly Bill 1604 (2021)

Summary

Requires the State Personnel Board to post notices of proposed changes to regulations for public comment. Requires the Department of Human Resources and the board to enter into a memorandum of understanding to determine areas of compliance for nonmerit-related audits and to train board staff on the areas of compliance. Requires the Department of Human Resources to establish best practices for each aspect of the design, announcement, and administration of the examinations.

Enacted

09/13/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Industry: Public_employer

Proprietary and Private Security Services

Bill

Assembly Bill 2515 (2021)

Summary

Requires an application for registration as a proprietary private security employer to include a designated responsible person. Requires a proprietary private security employer to make the records they are required to maintain available to the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services upon demand, and requires a proprietary private security officer to show their proprietary private security officer registration card to any peace officer or bureau representative upon demand.

Enacted

09/13/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Employer_Obligations: Certification, Reporting_required, Training; Industry: Security_services

Labor and Workforce Development Agency: Extreme Heat

Bill

Assembly Bill 1643 (2021)

Summary

Requires the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, on or before the specified date, to establish an advisory committee to study and evaluate the effects of extreme heat on California’s workers, businesses, and the economy. Requires the committee to meet no less than quarterly, to consider how to define extreme heat in this context, and to make recommendations on how to improve the state’ s identification, tracking, and responses to these effects.

Enacted

09/09/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Workplace_Behavior: Health, Heat, Safety

Food Facilities and Employment

Bill

Assembly Bill 257 (2021)

Summary

Enacts the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act. Requires the Fast Food Council to promulgate minimum fast food restaurant employment standards, including standards on wages, working conditions, and training, and to issue, amend, and repeal any other rules and regulations, as necessary to carry out its duties, subject to a petition signed by 10,000 fast food restaurant employees approving the creation of the council, as specified.

Enacted

09/05/2022

Effective Date

01/01/2023

Topics

Industry: Fast_food; Prohibited_Practices: Refuse_conditions, Retaliation, Whistleblower; Workplace_Behavior: Health, Safety

State Employment: State Bargaining Units: Agreements

Bill

Assembly Bill 151 (2021)

Summary

Approves provisions of agreements entered into by the state employer and State Bargaining Units 2, 8, 9, 10, 18, and 19. Provides that the provisions of the agreements that require the expenditure of funds will not take effect unless funds for these provisions are specifically appropriated by the Legislature. Authorizes the state employer or State Bargaining Units 2, 8, 9, 10, 18, or 19 to reopen negotiations if funds for these provisions are not specifically appropriated by the Legislature.

Enacted

09/06/2022

Effective Date

09/06/2022

Topics

Industry: Public_employer

August

There were no employment and/or labor bills that were enacted that were identified.

July

There were no employment and/or labor bills that were enacted that were identified.

June

Employment

Bill

Senate Bill 191 (2021)

Summary

Requires that an exclusive representative be entitled to schedule an inperson meeting at the worksite during employment hours, if a public employer has not conducted an inperson new employee orientation within 30 days, as specified. Requires that newly hired employees be relieved of other duties in order to attend the meeting, during which an exclusive representative would be authorized to communicate with newly hired employees in the applicable bargaining unit for up to 30 minutes on paid time.

Enacted

03/30/2022

Effective Date

06/30/2022

Topics

Industry: Public_employer

May

There were no employment and/or labor bills that were enacted that were identified.

April

There were no employment and/or labor bills that were enacted that were identified.

March

There were no employment and/or labor bills that were enacted that were identified.

February

There were no employment and/or labor bills that were enacted that were identified.

January

There were no employment and/or labor bills that were enacted that were identified.