It’s 2015 and California employers have a brand new list of new To-Do’s that come courtesy of Sacramento legislators. Be aware of changes in the law and take steps to make sure you’re covered. If you haven’t started your HR checklist, we’ll help with the one that follows.
- Update your personnel policies. California became the first state in the nation to require employers, regardless of size, to offer paid sick leave. Your sick leave policy must provide for any employee who has worked for you for at least 30 days to begin accruing sick leave at the rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked up to a maximum of six paid sick days (which must be allowed to carry over from year to year). Once an employee becomes eligible for the paid sick leave, you need to allow him or her to use the sick leave after their 90th day of employment. The new law goes into effect on July 1, 2015, so you have plenty of time to get your policy in place.
- Take note that California’s anti-discrimination laws continue to expand to include new protected classes. California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) has added interns, volunteers and undocumented workers (with drivers’ licenses) as groups protected from employment discrimination and harassment. Note an employer must still obtain I-9s and the corresponding documentation, but cannot discriminate or harass someone because they hold a driver’s license issued by the DMV to undocumented workers.
- Review your wage and hour practices. For the last few years, California has significantly enhanced its wage protection laws, and this year is no exception.
- AB1897 imposes new penalties on employers who use labor contractors. If a company relies upon a contractor to provide some or all of its workers, and the contractor is unable to pay the workers or fails to carry workers compensation, the client who hired the contractor may now be legally responsible for the amounts due and penalties.
- Additional laws were passed increasing or enhancing penalties for violation of California’s wage and hour laws, such as expanding the time to recover liquidated damages for failure to pay minimum wage and additional penalties for employing minors unlawfully.
- Beware of a “sleeper” problem stemming from the new minimum wage law that went into effect last July. Many employers increased hourly employees’ wages to meet the new minimum wage, but did not consider the impact the change had on exempt employees. All exempt employees (commonly referred to as “salaried” employees) must now meet a threshold minimum salary requirement that is equal to two times minimum wage. This means that if you have employees who are classified as exempt, they must be receiving a fixed salary of at least $37,440 a year ($3,120 a month). If you have not increased your exempt employees’ salaries to meet this requirement, these employees are not actually exempt from overtime.
- Lastly, re-do manager training to assure your key staff members are fully informed about new laws. A well-intentioned (but ignorant) manager is a recipe for disaster.
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