Key Points: Numerous new California laws going into effect on January 1, 2021 (or earlier), will impact employers and employees. The minimum wage for employers with 25 or fewer employees will increase to $13.00 per hour on January 1, 2020. Has substantially the same owners or managers that control the labor relations as the predecessor employer. The changes expand CFRA’s footprint … This bill also creates a new rebuttable presumption — which relates back to cases of workers’ compensation coverage if there was a COVID-19 “outbreak” at the employee’s place of employment. However, it does retain the requirement that, to be eligible for leave, an employee must have at least 1,250 hours of service with the employer during the previous 12-month period. Related to AB 2257 is AB 323 which, among other things, expands the exemption applicable to newspaper carriers by deleting the condition that a newspaper carrier work under contract either with a newspaper publisher or newspaper distributor. Employers can be fined up to $10,000 for failing to report the required information or providing false or misleading information. Labor Code Sections 1401(a), 1402 and 1403 (the key provisions of the CA WARN Act addressing required notice to employees) has been suspended to permit employers to act quickly in order to mitigate or prevent the spread of coronavirus, subject to satisfaction of certain conditions. Five Employment Law Changes Employers Can Expect Under a Biden Administration AB 685 Requires Employers To Provide … Supplemental Paid Sick Leave: This bill codifies Governor Newsom’s Executive Order N-51-20 (signed April 16, 2020) which provided supplemental paid sick leave to food sector employees for an employer with 500 or more employees nationwide as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic (COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave). Operates a business in the same industry and the business has an owner, partner, officer or director who is an immediate family member of any owner, partner, officer or director of the predecessor employer. What is AB 685? This reporting requirement applies regardless of whether you believe the employee contracted COVID-19 at work. California Employment Law Alert: New Employment Laws Effective On or Before January 1, 2021 Posted on December 18, 2020 by Laura P. Worsinger , Allison M. Scott California employers … To meet the duties test, the employee must be primarily engaged in an occupation that is commonly recognized as a learned or artistic profession and must customarily and regularly exercise discretion and independent judgment about the performance of his/her duties. AB 1731 requires the director to accept an application to participate in, or renew participation in, the work-sharing program that is submitted electronically and requires the Employment Development Department (EDD) to create a portal on its internet website for the provision and receipt of such applications. Wage and Hour Laws. Provide all employees who may have been exposed and their exclusive representative, if any, with information regarding COVID-19-related benefits to which they may be entitled, including but not limited to worker's compensation, COVID-19-related leave, and paid sick leave, as well as the employer's anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation policies. AB 2147 was passed in the wake of California’s recent serious fire seasons to allow for incarcerated individuals who have worked assisting with firefighting through the California Conservation Camp program to more easily retain employment in firefighting after they have been released from custody. Employs as a managing agent any person who directly controlled the wages, hours or working conditions of the affected workforce of the predecessor employer (the term managing agent has the same meaning as in subdivision (b) of Section 3294 of the Civil Code). New California Laws in 2020. AB 685 also imposes reporting obligations on employers who are notified of a COVID-19 outbreak, as defined by the CA Department of Public Health. This bill repeals Labor Code section 2750.3, adds section 2775 through 2787 to the Labor Code, and amends and adds several sections of the Revenue and Taxation Code. California law requires that generally no less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages be paid to workers employed on public works. In 2019, Governor Newsom signed AB 5, which codified the ABC test articulated by the California Supreme Court in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles for purposes of determining whether a worker was properly classified as an independent contractor. Code §§ 1400, et seq.) The new law also adds a section to the California Labor Code which provides that a successor employer is liable for any wages, damages and penalties owed to any of the predecessor employer's former workforce pursuant to a final judgment, after the time to appeal therefrom has expired and for which no appeal therefrom is pending, if the successor employer meets any of the following criteria: This bill amends Section 1205 of and adds Section 200.3 to the Labor Code and amends sections 1502, 2217 and 17702.09 of the Corporations Code. In this video, I discuss five key new laws facing California employers: California’s Supplemental Paid Sick Leave, which took effect in September 2020 (read more about AB 1867 here) AB 685 requiring employers to provide notice of suspected or confirmed COVID-19 in the workplace, effective on January 1, 2021 … On March 17, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-31-20, addressing the California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act (Lab. AB 3075 expands the information corporations must include in the corporation's statement of information filed with the California Secretary of State. This website uses cookies to improve user experience, track anonymous site usage, store authorization tokens and permit sharing on social media networks. Gavin … September 30, 2020 is the deadline for Governor Newsom to sign into law all bills passed by the Legislature this year. 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