Workplace safety (SB-1044)
It prohibits an employer from taking or threatening adverse action against any employee for refusing to come to work, or leaving, if the employee has a “reasonable belief” that the workplace or work site is unsafe. That includes taking an employee’s mobile device and preventing him or her from seeking help.
It also requires an employee to notify the employer of the emergency condition requiring the employee to leave or refuse to report to the workplace or work site. The bill clarifies that these provisions are not intended to apply when emergency conditions that pose an imminent and ongoing risk of harm to the workplace, the worksite, the worker, or the worker’s home have ceased.
Wage Transparency (SB-1162)
SB 1162 requires companies that employ at least 15 people to include salary ranges in all job postings and provide them to existing employees upon request. It expands the requirements for annual pay data reports and requires covered employers to retain certain pay records.
It also broadens SB 973 by requiring the median and mean hourly rate for each combination of race, ethnicity and sex in the designated job categories. Employers with multiple establishments are required to submit separate reports for each establishment instead of a consolidated report.
The law is an effort to bolster pay transparency and counter workplace discrimination and aligns California law with several other states, including New York, Nevada and Washington.
Leaves of absence (AB-1041)
It amends two laws by relaxing the definition of people an employee can take off time to care for.
The new law adds a “designated person” to the category of existing permitted family members that include a spouse, registered domestic partner, child, parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, grandchild and sibling.
The new law, taking effect Jan. 1, expands both the California Family Rights Act and California’s paid sick leave law, called the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act.
Bereavement leave (AB-1949)
It is illegal for employers with five or more employees to deny employees up to five days of unpaid bereavement leave upon the death of a family member, so long as: (1) the employee seeking leave was employed for at least 30 days before the commencement of leave, and (2) for private employers, the employer has five or more employees. There are separate requirements for public employers.
Source: https://www.foxla.com/news/new-california-laws-2023-january-1.amp
Edit to include bill # for AB-1949