The California Legislature was feverously at work in 2023 adding hundreds of new laws. Many of them become effective and enforceable in 2024. Here are a few that may affect you.
Employees Can Use THC Off-Hours
As of January 1, 2024, employers cannot discriminate against employees for using cannabis outside of work hours or due to the discovery of THC in a blood or urine sample. This should persuade many employers to dispense with drug testing for employees not involved in hazardous work.
Employees Wage Complaints Protected
Starting January 1, 2024, employers cannot retaliate against workers for discussing their wage, asking what a co-worker earns or for encouraging others to ask for a raise. Thus, another employee defense to employment termination has been born.
Equity In Bathroom Signage
Beginning January 1, 2024, a business with a single-occupancy bathroom must put up an all-genders sign on the door. All you with executive toilets, time to buy and hang a new potty sign.
Employees Get More Paid Sick Days
Starting the first day of 2024, the number of paid sick days available to California employees rises from three days or 24 hours to five days or 40 hours, per year. Time to recheck those labor budgets.
Leave for Reproductive Loss
In the coming year California employees will have the right to up to five days of leave for a reproductive loss and it applies equally to men and women. Reproductive loss means the final day of a failed adoption, failed surrogacy, miscarriage, stillbirth, or an unsuccessful assisted reproduction. The leave must be taken within three months of the loss and total leave can be up to twenty days in a 12-month period for multiple losses.
Gender Neutral Toy Sections For Large Retailers
In the New Year retailers with 500 or more employees in the State, can be fined if their toy or childcare departments do not maintain “a reasonable selection of the items and toys for children” in a section that is not explicitly labeled for girls or boys. The State can issue fines of not more than $250 for a first violation and $500 for each further violation. Seems to us you should have a non-labeled “children’s toy department” and leave it at that.
New Wage Theft Protection Notice
New wage theft protection notices will be required for 2024. They must include updated sick leave accruals and additional information on “the existence of a federal or state emergency or disaster declaration applicable to the county or counties where the employee is to be employed, and that was issued within 30 days before the employee’s first day of employment, that may affect their health and safety during their employment.” Download the Notice template from the Department of Labor Standards Enforcement and get that Notice out.
Minimum Wage Goes Up
California’s statewide minimum wage increases to $16.00 per hour on January 1, 2024. Multiple municipalities are also raising their minimum wages, including cities like San Jose (up to $17.55), Oakland (up to $16.50), San Diego (up to $16.85), and Belmont topping the list (up to $17.35) For certain healthcare workers, the minimum wage will also increase to $18/hour on January 1, 2024, and $23/hour on June 1, 2024. Employers with minimum wage workers should make sure their payroll is ready to make that increase starting on the first of the year, including for those that may be burning the midnight oil on overnight shifts New Years’ Eve.
Exempt Salary Threshold Rises
Employers should also confirm that exempt employees’ salaries will meet the new required thresholds for their exempt classifications, which rise with the minimum wage increase to no less than two times the state minimum wage for full-time work – a minimum of $66,560 annually for 2024 for most exempt workers, and a minimum of $115,763.35 for computer software employees.
Start Your Mea Culpas For Non-Competition Provisions
By January 1, 2024, employers must evaluate whether any of their employment agreements with California employees—both current and former—contain non-compete provisions, non-solicit of customer or employee provisions, antiraiding provisions, and overly broad confidentiality agreements, that may be considered unlawful under Section 16600 of the Business & Professions Code, which prohibits contracts in restraint of trade.
For employers who identify that they may have problematic restraint of trade employment contract provisions with current or former employees, by February 14, 2024, they must notify those individuals (who were employed on or after January 1, 2022) in writing that the offending contracts, agreements, or clauses are void.
Time for a Workplace Violence Prevention Plan
All employers in California must create, adopt, and implement a written Workplace Violence Prevention Plan by July 1, 2024 that includes 13 requirements (such as procedures to respond to reports or acts of workplace violence, reporting procedures, and emergency alert planning), as well as annual workplace violence prevention training, violent incident logs, and new record retention requirements.
A Variety of Notices To Employees Go Digital
Employers will now be permitted to provide employees with certain required notifications via email instead of through paper, provided they opt for the electronic option with either a written or electronic acknowledgment. This includes notices under the Revenue and Taxation Code that employees may be eligible for the federal and CA earned income tax credit (and more, due at time of W-2/1099), and Unemployment Insurance Code copies of printed statements or materials relating to claims for benefits. This provision will be in effect between January 1, 2024, and January 1, 2029.
Obviously, this is just a minute portion of the new legislation that affects California employers and employees. Make sure you consult with your business attorney to help you comply and stay compliant.
The information presented is not intended to be, and does not constitute, “legal advice.” Because each situation varies, and only brief summary information is provided here, you should not use this information as a basis for action unless you have independently verified with your own counsel that it applies to your particular situation.
