New California Employment Laws for 2012

For more information on the laws, click on their link below.

19 new labor laws were put into place in California for 2012. Below is a short description of each new law.

For more information about the most common labor laws that will negatively impact employers, join CEA at one of our 2012 Labor Law updates either in person or from the convenience of your office via webinar. Click here for the schedule.

Administrative Penalties Assembly Bill (AB) 240: Allows an employee that alleges a minimum wage violation to recover liquidated damages before the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) and now the Labor Commissioner can also award such damages.

Agricultural Labor Relations Senate Bill (SB) 126: Affects certification of bargaining representatives for agricultural employees.

Apprentice Programs SB 56: Changes the audit requirements for apprenticeship programs. This law eliminates random audits during five-year increments, and directs the Division to conduct audits of apprenticeship programs instead. It also creates requirements for applications for building and construction trades programs for approval of a new or expanded apprenticeship program.

Credit Check AB 22: Prohibits employers and prospective employers, not including certain financial institutions, from obtaining and using consumer credit reports (credit information) about applicants or employees.

Department of Fair Employment and Housing Procedural Regulations (DFEH). Effective October 7, 2011, DFEH instituted new regulations on procedures for filing, investigating and processing discrimination and harassment claims.

E-Verify AB 1236: Allows employers to continue to choose to use E-Verify, but prohibits California state agencies and local governments from passing mandates that require employers to use E-Verify.

Farm Labor Contractors—Wage Notices AB 243: Expands the information that must be included on pay statements for farm labor contractors. Employers that are farm labor contractors must disclose on the itemized payroll statement furnished to their employees, the name and address of all legal entities that secured the employer’s services.

Genetic Information SB 559: Revises the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) to state that employers are prohibited from discriminating against employees on the basis of genetic information.

Gender Expression AB 887: Revises the FEHA to further define “gender” to include both gender identity and “gender expression” and to make clear that discrimination on either basis is prohibited. Also, an employee must be allowed to dress consistently with both the employee’s gender identity and gender expression.

Insurance Non-Discrimination Act SB 757: Prevents employers that operate in multiple states from discriminating against same-sex couples by not providing the same insurance coverage for domestic partners as they do for spouses.

Interference with Rights Under Leave Laws AB 592: Adds language to the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and the Pregnancy Disability Leave law (PDL) that makes it unlawful to interfere with or in any way restrain the exercise of rights under these laws.

Notice of Pay Details AB 469: Requires employers to provide non-exempt employees, at the time of hire or whenever there is a change to their rate of pay, a notice that specifies:

The rate of pay and the basis, whether hourly, salary, piece commission or otherwise, including any overtime rate;

Allowances, if any, claimed as part of the minimum wage, including meal and lodging allowances;
The regular pay day designated by the employer as required under the Labor Code;
The name of the employer, including any “doing business as” names;
The physical address of the employer’s main office or principal place of business and any mailing address, if different;
The telephone of the employer; and
The name, address and telephone number of the employer’s workers’ compensation carrier.

Organ and Bone Marrow Donor Leave SB 272: Clarifies California’s organ and bone marrow donor leave law to state that the days of leave are business days, not calendar days, and that the one-year period is measured from the date the employee’s leave begins.

Pregnancy Disability Leave SB 299: Requires all employers with 5 or more employees to continue to maintain and pay for health coverage, if they have a group health plan, for eligible female employees who take Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL) up to a maximum of four months in a 12-month period.

Safe Lifting—Hospitals AB 1136: Requires general acute care hospitals to maintain a safe patient handling policy for patient care units, including trained lift teams or training in safe lifting techniques for staff.

State Contracts—Gender or Sexual Orientation Discrimination SB 117: Will not allow the state of California to enter into contracts of more than $100,000 with companies that discriminate against employees on the basis of gender or sexual orientation with regard to benefits.

Wage Penalties AB 551: Increases the maximum penalty from $50 to $200 per calendar day for each worker paid less than the determined prevailing wage. It increases the minimum penalty from $10 to $40 per day for violations of prevailing wage obligations and increases the penalty from $25 to $100 per calendar day, per worker, against contractors and subcontractors that fail to respond to a written request for payroll records within 10 days.

Willful Misclassification of Independent Contractors SB 459: New penalties established (between $5,000 to $25,000) for the “willful misclassification” of independent contractors.

Workers’ Compensation Legislation

AB 335: Requires the workers’ compensation administrative director (AD) to work with the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation (CHSWC) to develop regulations regarding notices to injured workers; requires AD and CHSWC to develop and make accessible a booklet written in plain language about the workers’ compensation claims process; streamlines and simplifies other notices to employees.

AB 378: Establishes guidelines for dispensing compound drugs, the circumstances under which those drugs would be covered and the reimbursement amount, and removes the incentives for physicians to refer patients to pharmacies in which the physician or physician’s family has a financial interest.

AB 397: Contractors that do not have workers’ compensation coverage but that are exempt from having coverage at the time they are licensed must certify they are still exempt or have gotten coverage at the time of their license renewal.

AB 1168: Establishes a fee schedule for vocational experts' services.

AB 1426: Eliminating the court administrator position.

AB 228: Amends the California Insurance Code to authorize the State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF) to provide workers’ compensation coverage to a California employer whose California employees temporarily work outside the state.