A Gaze Into the Future? – 2016 Legislative Update

by Holden Law Group

While we will be providing clients with an overview and analysis of all the new employment laws that are passed this year when the legislative session ends, we thought employers may want to know about some of the pending pieces of legislation that might become law.  The employment bills listed below have advanced to the second legislative chamber, which has a deadline of August 31, 2016 to decide whether or not to approve the bills and push them forward for the Governor’s approval.  The bills seek to:

  • Expand California’s Equal Pay Act to target race and ethnicity-related wage differentials (SB 1063);
  • Require employers with 500 or more employees to provide double pay for work performed on Thanksgiving (AB 67);
  • Expand the prohibitions regarding “immigration-related practices” (SB 1001);
  • Prohibit hiring-related inquiries concerning juvenile convictions (AB 1843);
  • Preclude salary history from justifying gender-based wage differentials (AB 1676);
  • Expand California’s heat illness regulations to include indoor employees (SB 1167); and
  • Require employers to either provide or make available for inspection policies regarding sexual assault/domestic violence leave rights and the employer’s Illness and Injury Prevention Program (AB 2337 and AB 2895).

Should any of these bills pass in the second chamber, Governor Brown will then have until September 30, 2016 to veto them or sign them into law. Most bills signed into law will have a January 1, 2017 effective date.   We will keep a watchful eye on these bills and provide additional information as it becomes available.