- January 12, 2023
- Posted by: FLORES
- Categories: Accounting, Business Strategy
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Employee Handbook Updates
2022 has come to a close, and the new year is now here. While many states, cities, and counties seem to be willing to pass employment laws and regulations at any time, the first day of a new year is still the number one day for new employment laws to take effect. 2023 is no exception.
For California alone, below are the ordinances that went into effect January 1, 2023. It is crucial to update your employee handbook to reflect changes and updates caused by these ordinances.
| Law, Ordinance or Regulation | Main Topic | Summary | Effective Date |
| California AB 257 | Fast Food Industry: Regulation | Creates the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act. This law establishes a state Fast Food Council within the Department of Industrial Relations, which will be empowered to impose sector-wide minimum standards on wages, working hours, and other conditions related to the health, safety, and welfare of fast food restaurant workers. | January 1, 2023 |
| California AB 1041 | Protected Time Off: Scope of Coverage | Expands the definition of a “family member” under the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) and California’s Healthy Workplaces Healthy Families Act (HWHFA) to include a “designated person.” Employees will be able to identify a designated person for whom they want to use leave when they request unpaid (CFRA) or paid (HWHFA) leave. | January 1, 2023 |
| California AB 1601 | Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN): Call Center Employees | Requires call center employers to provide notice of mass layoff, relocation, or termination. | January 1, 2023 |
| California AB 1632 | Title III Accommodations | Requires businesses open to the public that have restrooms for employees to allow individuals who have Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, or any other similar medical condition, to use the employee restrooms. | January 1, 2023 |
| California AB 1720 | Background Checks: Home Health Services | Removes requirement for specified individuals connected with home healthcare facilities to sign a declaration regarding prior criminal convictions. | January 1, 2023 |
| California AB 1751 | COVID-19: Workers’ Compensation | Extends to January 1, 2024, the current rebuttable presumption that an employee’s illness resulting from COVID-19 was sustained in the course of employment for purposes of workers’ compensation benefits. | January 1, 2023 |
| California AB 1788 | Employer Liability: Human Trafficking | Provides that hotel employers are liable for human tracking penalties if a supervisory employee knew of or acted with reckless disregard of sex trafficking activity. | January 1, 2023 |
| California AB 1949 | Protected Time Off: Bereavement Leave | Amends the California Family Rights Act to require employers with five or more employees to provide up to five days of unpaid bereavement leave for an employee within three months of the death of a family member. | January 1, 2023 |
| California AB 2068 | COVID-19: Workplace Posters | Requires certain health and safety posters relating to COVID-19 to be posted in additional languages. | January 1, 2023 |
| California AB 2134 | Benefits: Reproductive Health | Applies to religious employers’ healthcare service plans and insurers that do not provide coverage for abortion and contraception. These plans and insurers will be required to provide insured employees with written information about free abortion and contraception benefits or services available through the California Reproductive Health Equity Program. | January 1, 2023 |
| California AB 2223 | Employer Liability: Reproductive Health | Prohibits a person from being subject to civil or criminal liability based on their actions or omissions with respect to their pregnancy or actual, potential, or alleged pregnancy outcome or based on their actions to aid or assist a woman or pregnant person who is exercising their reproductive rights. | January 1, 2023 |
| California AB 2282 | Discrimination & Harassment: Hate Crimes | Expands the definition of hate crimes in places of employment to include display of hate imagery. | January 1, 2023 |
| California AB 2693 | COVID-19: Exposure Notifications | Amends California Labor Code section 6409.6 (Duties of employer when notified of potential exposure to COVID-19) and extends its provisions until January 1, 2024. The main modification will give employers the option to post a notice of potential COVID-19 exposure at the worksite (and on existing employee portals) instead of providing written notice. | January 1, 2023 |
| California AB 2960 | Civil Procedure | Amends the Fair Employment and Housing Act to toll right-to-sue notice deadlines during mandatory or voluntary dispute resolution proceedings. | January 1, 2023 |
| California SB 523 | Protected Categories: Reproductive Health | Amends the Fair Employment and Housing Act to prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of an individual’s reproductive health decision-making; expands required health plan coverage for contraceptives. | January 1, 2023 |
| California SB 731 | Background Checks: Criminal | Amends the state penal code to provide for criminal record relief. Seals records of defendants convicted of most felonies on or after January 1, 2005, if they completed their sentence, probation, supervision, parole and any other terms of their conviction, and are not convicted of a new felony for four years. | January 1, 2023 |
| California SB 931 | Labor-Management Relations | Permits an employee organization to file a claim against an employer before the Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) alleging violations of Government Code section 3550, which prohibits a public employer from deterring or discouraging public employees or applicants from becoming or remaining members of an employee organization. | January 1, 2023 |
| California SB 951 | Protected Time Off: FMLA Paid | Increases the amount of unemployment and wage replacement benefits for low-wage employees under the family temporary disability insurance program, for disabilities or covered incidents occurring on or after January 1, 2025. | January 1, 2023 |
| California AB 984 | Privacy: Surveillance | Disclosure regarding use of GPS tracking location technology in fleet vehicles. Allows an employee to disable off hours. | January 1, 2023 |
| California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 | Data Privacy | Substantially expands the privacy and information security obligations of most employers doing business in California, requiring significant changes to existing policies, procedures, and practices for handling HR Individuals’ personal information. Creates the Privacy Protection Agency to enforce the state consumer data privacy laws. | January 1, 2023 |
| California SB 1044 | Protected Time Off: Non-Retaliation | Prohibits an employer from taking adverse action against an employee for refusing to report to or leaving work during an emergency condition; prohibits an employer from preventing an employee from accessing a mobile device during that time. | January 1, 2023 |
| California SB 1093 | Home Care Agencies: Background Checks | Permits applicants for home healthcare licenses to request transfers of criminal record clearance online; removes requirement to submit government issued identification when requesting transfer. | January 1, 2023 |
| California SB 1126 | Benefits: 401K/Retirement/Pension | Expands the definition of “eligible employer” under the CalSavers program to include those with one or more employees; requires employers with one or more employees that do not offer a retirement savings program to implement a payroll deposit retirement savings arrangement by December 31, 2025. | January 1, 2023 |
| California SB 1162 | Wage Transparency | Requires employers of 100 or more contracted employees to submit separate annual pay data reports regarding the contracted employees; requires employers of 15 or more employees to provide the pay scale for a position in any job posting. | January 1, 2023 |
| California SB 1477 | Wage & Hour: Garnishments | Reduces the maximum amount of wages that may be subject to garnishment. | January 1, 2023 |
If you need further clarification OR need information about other states you have businesses in, give FLORES a call. Our Human Resources team would be happy to assist you in any way we can to help your business stay in compliance.
Contact us at 619-588-2411