2016 Employment Law Updates for California
2014 and 2015 are proving to be anything but easy for employers in California who want to keep in compliance. In 2014 we had an increase in Minimum Wage, new guidelines regarding Meal and Rest Periods, Military and Veteran status added to the list of protected categories, the definition of Sexual Harassment expanded, additional protections for Whistleblowers, and changes to several mandated Leaves of Absence. In 2015, by far, the most impactful new legislation requires employers to provide Paid Sick Days to all employees as of July 1, 2015. While there is much talk about the new paid sick days law, employers need to be mindful of quite a few other employment related bills that go into effect in 2015 – many of which provide clarification to or add on to bills that took effect in
2014. A colleague of mine recently lamented that now California employers almost need to adopt an employment attorney just so they can stay in business! As a more manageable alternative, we’ve prepare the following brief description of a number (but mind you, not all) of new employment laws that have gone into effect for 2014 and 2015