ATTENTION CALIFORNIA EMPLOYERS: Are You Compliant with the 2023 Employment Law Changes?

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Patricia Tsipras

January 6, 2023

California’s Legislature has enacted several laws that will impact your workplace this year.  Below is a brief summary of some of those laws:

1. 1. Bereavement Leave. Effective January 1, 2023, California employees who have been employed for at least 30 days may take five days of bereavement leave for the loss of a family member.  A family member is defined as a spouse, domestic partner, child, parent, parent-in-law, sibling, grandparent, or grandchild.  Employees do not have to take the five days consecutively, but must take the days within three months of the death.  Such leave may be unpaid and employers are permitted to request documentation of the death within 30 days of the first day of leave.  See 2022 Cal AB 1949.
   2. Reproductive Health Decision-Making. California enacted the Contraceptive Equity Act of 2022, which revises the Fair Employment and Housing Act, effective January 1, 2023, to clarify that “sex” includes reproductive health decision-making.  Reproductive health decision-making includes, but is not limited to, “a decision to use or access a particular drug, device, product, or medical service for reproductive health.”  Under the Act, it is an unlawful employment practice to discriminate against applicants or employees based on their reproductive health decision-making.  Employers also are prohibited from requiring applicants or employees to disclose, as a condition of employment or receiving employment benefits, information relating to reproductive health decision-making.  See 2022 Cal SB 523.
   3. Emergency Conditions.  Effective January 1, 2023, in the event of an emergency condition, California employers cannot take or threaten adverse action against an employee who, upon notice, refuses to report to, or leaves, a worksite because the employee has a reasonable belief that it is unsafe.  “Emergency condition” is defined as either (a) conditions of disaster or extreme peril to the safety of persons or property at the worksite caused by natural forces or a criminal act; or (b) an order to evacuate a worksite, a worker’s home, or the school of a worker’s child due to natural disaster or a criminal act.  Importantly, the law expressly excludes a health pandemic from the definition of “emergency condition”; therefore, the law would not apply to a situation in which an employee claims to feel unsafe due to COVID-19.  A worker’s belief will be considered “reasonable” if a reasonable person would conclude that a real danger of death or serious injury exists if the person enters or remains on the premises.  The law also prohibits an employer from preventing any employee from accessing a mobile device or other communications device for seeking emergency assistance, assessing the safety of the situation, or communicating with a person to confirm their safety.  The law does not apply to several categories of workers, including, but not limited to, first responders.  See 2022 Cal SB 1044.
   4. COVID-19 Exposure Notice. When California employers are notified of a potential exposure to COVID-19 at the worksite, Labor Code 6409.6 requires them to provide written notice of the potential exposure within one business day to all employees and subcontractors who were at the worksite during the infectious period.  Though that requirement was set to expire on January 1, 2023, California Governor Newsom extended the requirement to January 1, 2024.  However, employers are now able to satisfy the notice requirement by displaying a notice prominently in all places where notices to employees regarding worksite rules usually are posted.  Employers must post the notices within one day of being notified of the potential exposure.  The notices must remain posted for 15 days and must be in English and in any language understood by a majority of employees.  The notice must contain the following information:  (a) the dates on which the COVID-19-infected employee or subcontractor was at the worksite within the infectious period; (b) the location of the exposures, including, for example, the department, floor, or building; (c) a contact from whom employees can secure information regarding COVID-19-related benefits to which they may be entitled if they have to isolate or quarantine; and (d) a contact from whom employees can secure the employer’s cleaning and disinfection plan.  See 2022 Cal AB 2693.
   5. Pay Equity. California seeks to achieve pay equity by requiring more transparency in pay.  See our previously-published article about The Pay Transparency for Pay Equity Act, which became effective on January 1, 2023.
   6. Family Leave. California expanded its Family Rights Act and its Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act, effective January 1, 2023, to allow employees to take up to 12 weeks of family leave to care for individuals who are not legal relatives.  See our previously-published article on this topic here.
   7. Minimum Wage. California increased its minimum wage to $15.50, effective January 1, 2023.  See our previously-posted article on the topic here.

Contact counsel to discuss how these laws may impact your workplace.

The author of this article, Patricia Tsipras, is a member of the Bar of Pennsylvania.  This article is designed to provide one perspective regarding recent legal developments, and is not intended to serve as legal advice in Pennsylvania, California, or any other jurisdiction, nor does it establish an attorney-client relationship with any reader of the article where one does not exist.  Always consult an attorney with specific legal issues.