Understanding 5 New California Labor Laws

Five new California labor laws were passed that will have an effect on California employee rights and potentially influence the multiple class action lawsuits that have been filed over alleged California labor law violations. These new California employment laws will influence a wide range of people including part-time workers, interns, and foreign workers.

Sick Leave

New California labor laws state that all employees who work for a minimum of 30 days per year are entitled to a certain number of sick days. Employees are allowed one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked. Sick leave is capped at 24 hours (or three days) of sick leave, although California employees may accrue 48 hours (or six days) of sick time away from work.

If an employee leaves a company, he is not paid the unused sick leave. This California labor law applies to full-time, part-time, temporary, and all other kinds of employees at small and large businesses in the state.

This law will impact California employee rights beginning July 1, 2015.

Contract Workers

Another California labor law states that employers who hire independent contractors are jointly liable (with the contractor) for the wages and compensation insurance of the contractor.

The employer may be held liable if a contractor is unable to or refuses to pay wages or compensation insurance. This California labor law only applies to a contractor with six or more non-exempt workers. It does not apply to employers who only have 25 or fewer total employees including contractors.

Abusive Conduct

Another new California labor law expands sexual harassment training to abusive conduct, which will now be covered as part of the training.

Abusive conduct is an action that “a reasonable person would find hostile, offensive, and unrelated to an employer’s legitimate business interests” and includes “repeated infliction of verbal abuse,” “verbal or physical conduct that a reasonable person would find threatening, intimidating, or humiliating, or the gratuitous sabotage or undermining of a person’s work performance,” according to the new California labor law.

A single act may not fit this definition unless it is “especially severe and egregious.” The goal of this law is to protect employees from gross behavior that does not fit under the category of discrimination.

Discrimination Protection

When it comes to discrimination, a California labor law states that discrimination protection applies to unpaid interns and volunteers. This is an amendment of an existing Fair Employment and Housing Act stipulation. It covers religious beliefs when it comes to obtaining housing in addition to the work place.

Foreign Labor

California has also created new rules for foreign workers, which seek to protect foreign labor contractors and workers. This includes anyone who is from another country but is seeking work or working in California.

Foreign labor contractors may not charge the laborer for anything that is abnormal. Foreign laborers will be required to register and meet certain requirements by July 1, 2016. The law also states that employers may not hire non-registered laborers.

Violations of these or other California labor laws may lead to additional labor related class action lawsuits filed against major (and minor) companies.

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