Labor and Employment

Effective January 1, 2023, California’s minimum wage rate increased to $15.50 per hour (from $15.00) for employers with 26 or more employees and $15.50 per hour (from $14.00) for employers with 25 or fewer employees. Thus, all employers, regardless of size, must pay a minimum wage of at least $15.50 beginning January 1^st. Minimum wage adjustments for 2024 and beyond will be made in relation to inflation, as required by California Labor Code section 1182.12, and determined by August 1^st of each year.

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California recently passed Senate Bill 731 (“SB 731”) into law which significantly expands the automatic sealing eligibility of most felonies that occurred on or after January 1, 2005, if certain circumstances are met. This will impact the type of records employers can lawfully rely upon for hiring decisions after conducting employment background checks.

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Election day is here! On Tuesday, November 8, 2022, employees across the nation will report to their local polling places to cast their votes.

So, what are California employers required to do?

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Earlier this month, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released a new poster that employers are required to display in their workplaces. The “Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal” poster updates and replaces the previous “Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law” poster. According to the press release, the new poster includes the following changes:  

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In California, it has long been the rule that an employer is entitled to use a rounding policy “if the rounding policy is fair and neutral on its face and ‘it is used in such a manner that it will not result, over a period of time, in failure to compensate the employees properly for all the time they have actually worked.’” (See’s Candy Shops, Inc. v. Superior Court (2012) 210 Cal.App.4th 889, 907 (See’s Candy I), quoting 29 C.F.R. § 785.48(b) and citing Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) Enforcement Policies and Interpretations Manual (2002 rev.) §§ 47.1, 47.2 (DLSE Manual). However, since that ruling in 2012, California courts have slowly chipped away at that rule. Most recently, the California Supreme Court held that rounding is not permitted for purposes of meal breaks. (See Donohue v. AMN Services, LLC, 11 Cal. 5th 58.) Now, a California Court of Appeal has determined a rounding policy that was otherwise neutral on both its face, and in application, to be unlawful. This ruling calls into question whether California employers may continue rounding employees time under any circumstance.

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On September 29, 2022, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 1044 which grants new protections and rights to most California employees in the case of emergency conditions in the workplace.

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How much does that job pay? According to a new law coming to California, employers must not hide that information from employees who ask. And applicants will not even need to ask. On September 27, 2022, Governor Newsom signed into law SB 1162, which provides for pay transparency among job postings for most California employers.

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On September 29, 2022, Governor Newsom signed AB 1949, which amends the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) to require employers with 5 or more employees to provide eligible employees with 5 days of bereavement leave. Here’s what California employers need to know about AB 1949:

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