New Legislation for 2008
Posted by Nancy G. Berner and Connor J. Moyle
Once again, the past year provided fertile ground for the growth of additional legislation impacting California’s employers. The following list highlights these developments and provides links to sites with additional details.
a. Leave for Soldier’s Partner: Assembly Bill 392 requires employers with 25+ employees to grant unpaid leave to spouses or domestic partners of combatants on leave from deployment in a combat zone.
b. Minimum Wage Goes Up: Effective January 1, 2008, California’s minimum wage increases to $8.00/hour; San Francisco employers should note that the City's minimum wage will increase to $9.36/hour.
c. Minimum Wage for Exempt Computer Professionals Goes Down: Effective January 1, 2008, Senate Bill 929 reduces the minimum hourly wage for computer professionals to not less than $36.00 per hour ($74,880.00 per year). This is a reduction from the previous version of the statute, which placed the minimum hourly wage at $49.77 per hour and will allow greater application of this exemption. The DLSE anticipates that it will continue to adjust this pay rate every October.
d. Use of Hands-Free Devices While Driving: Note that effective July 1, 2008, Senate Bill 1613 requires drivers to use a hands-free device when using a cell phone while driving. Employers should implement policies in accord with this new provision.
e. Existing Medical Privacy Laws Extended: Assembly Bill 1298 includes certain medical and health insurance information as triggers for notification in the case of unauthorized access.
f. Sexual Harassment Prevention Training: Employers who have been making a “good faith” effort to provide the required sexual harassment prevention training every two years must now refer to specific requirements to ensure that they are in compliance. See our prior blog entry on this topic for additional information.
g. San Francisco Paid Sick Leave: Any person or company employing a person in San Francisco will be required to provide paid sick leave. Click here for San Francisco’s answers to frequently asked questions, and here to review our prior blog entry on this topic.
h. San Francisco Health Care Security Ordinance: If the current challenge by the Golden Gate Restaurant Association does not result in a stay of this legislation, effective January 1, 2008, medium and large employers in San Francisco will be required to spend a minimum amount per hour on employee health care. Click here for an overview of the requirements.
i. HIPPA Extension: California’s Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Implementation Act of 2001 has been extended through 2010 by Assembly Bill 1302.
j. Work-Week for Pharmacists: Senate Bill 812 modifies the Labor Code to create an alternative work week schedule for pharmacists. In practice, this means that pharmacists’ schedules need no longer provide no less than two consecutive days off in a given work-week.
k. Whistleblower Protection: The Health and Safety Code has been modified by Assembly Bill 632 to add whistleblower protection to doctors who complain to government agencies of unsafe patient conditions in healthcare facilities.
l. Workers’ Compensation and Disability: Assembly Bill 338 addresses employee injuries occurring on or after April 19, 2004 so that, effective January 1, 2008, Labor Code section 4656 extends the time period over which 104 weeks of aggregate disability payments may be collected from a two year period from the date of injury to five years after the date of injury. (Labor Code section 4656 sets certain limits on the maximum number of compensable weeks disability benefits may be claimed under California’s workers compensation laws and the maximum time period (in years) over which those benefits may be claimed. These limits are different for injuries occurring on different dates.)
m. Crack Down on Workers Compensation “Deadbeats”: Senate Bill 869 authorizes the Labor Commissioner to identify employers who are not providing workers’ compensation insurance for their employees, and post the information to a website. Expect the Labor Commissioner to begin more aggressive efforts in cracking down on employers who do not have proper workers’ compensation coverage in place, as well as on those employers who improperly misclassify employees as independent contractors.
n. EEOC Revises Age Discrimination Regulations: The EEOC has made explicit that the ADEA prohibits only age discrimination against employees that are older than their co-employees. Thus, favoring an older individual over a younger individual, based on age, is not an ADEA violation, even if the younger individual is at least 40 years old.
o. 2007 Civil Rights Act: California law includes 51 provisions prohibiting discrimination against members of protected classes, but the list of protected classes varies from statute to statute. Assembly Bill 14 amends the existing nondiscriminatory provisions to be consistent with the Unruh Civil Rights Act (Civil Code section 51, et seq.) and Government Code section 11135. In addition to adding consistency, AB 14 automatically updates other non-discriminatory provisions whenever either the Unruh Civil Rights Act or Government Code section 11135 modify their lists of protected classes.