New California Labor Laws Going Into Effect in 2021

Employers in California may be required to make adjustments to their workplace policies to ensure compliance with various new laws that go into effect in 2021.

From COVID-19 reporting to the expansion of the California Family Rights Act, and an increase in the state minimum wage, there are more than 20 new laws covering a broad range of workplace issues and providing protections for employees.

Top Class Actions writes about labor laws because they are often the source of class action lawsuits. Here are a few of the new California labor laws for 2021 that workers should be familiar with.

COVID-19 Related Workplace Protections

Several new California labor laws concerning COVID-19 in the workplace become effective on Jan. 1, 2021, including AB 685. The law requires employers to notify employees within one business day if they have potentially been exposed to COVID-19 in their working environment.

The legislation also imposes reporting requirements to public health officials and provides OSHA with enforcement authority to order that a work facility be closed if it deems COVID-19 constitutes an “imminent hazard” to employees. Additionally, OSHA will be able to issue citations for “serious violations” in connection with potential COVID-19 health risks.

Significantly, Cal-OSHA adopted various emergency regulations that require employers to implement a Prevention Plan to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. A workplace COVID-19 Prevention Program must implement training, a system for communicating about testing, procedures to help identify and correct COVID-19 hazards, social distancing, record keeping, and recording. Employers are also required to provide face masks to employees and ensure that workers exposed to COVID-19 remain out of the workplace for 14 days.

COVID-19 and Workers’ Compensation

SB 1159 codifies Governor Newsom’s Executive Order N-62-20, establishing a “disputable presumption” for certain employees that illnesses related to COVID-19 arose from the course of their employment if certain conditions are met, entitling them to Workers’ Compensation.

Specifically, SB 1159 creates a presumption of compensability for first responders and healthcare workers who have tested positive for the virus within 14 days of having worked at a worksite other than their home. The new Workers’ Compensation law also creates the same presumption for employees who work for an employer with five or more employees if they test positive within 14 days of being onsite or during the occurrence of an outbreak at their workplace.

Both laws remain in effect until Jan. 1, 2023.

Expansion of the California Family Rights Act

There are several new California labor laws to help ensure workers’ jobs are protected if they need to care for an ill family member.

As of Jan. 1, 2021, SB 1383 will amend the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) to apply to private employers who employ five or more workers, superseding the previous requirement that an employee must work at a site with 50 or more workers within 75 miles. Under the law’s expansion, the CFRA now provides leave protections to California employees who work for both small and large employers.

Under the revised law, employees are still entitled to up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave if they have a serious health condition or must care for an ill family member. Notably, the definition of “family member” has been expanded by SB 1383 to include siblings, grandparents, and grandchildren in addition to one’s child, parent, spouse, or domestic partner.

Additionally, SB 1383 protects the leave of employees in connection with a qualifying exigency concerning covered active duty for their spouse, domestic partner, parent, or child. It also rescinds the New Parent Leave Act, which only allowed protected leave for employees employed at a location with 20 or more workers. Now, employees who work for employers with five workers or more are eligible for 12 weeks of protected leave related to births, adoptions, and foster placements.

AB 2017 provides further leave protections, giving the employee the right to designate sick leave for kin care at their own discretion.

To respond to the changes in the CFRA, AB 1867 created a pilot program to mediate family care leave claims raised against employers with between five and 19 employees. While either party is entitled to request mediation, claims cannot be brought into court until the mediation process has concluded. The program will run until 2024.

New California Labor Laws Concerning Minimum Wage

In 2021, the statewide California minimum wage for those who work for an employer with 25 or fewer employees will increase to $13. For employers with 26 or more workers, the applicable minimum wage increases to $14.00 per hour. The wage increases are up by $1.00 from 2020.

There are also many local minimum wage laws in California that will take effect in January, which may offer a higher minimum wage than that imposed by state law.

There are also labor laws in place for certain types of jobs, like nurses, and for those working the gig economy, like independent contractors.

Additional Protections for Whistleblowers

While whistleblowers who report workplace violations are offered protections from retaliation by their employers under the law, new California labor laws expand the existing safeguards. Under AB 1947, employees will now have one year to file a complaint with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement for employment-related discrimination, extending the previously applicable six-month time frame.

California courts are also authorized to grant reasonable attorneys’ fees to a prevailing whistleblower under the change in the Labor Code.