California Legislature: First Out Of The Starting Gate

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Date: 01 April 2015

California's State Legislature is now producing the labor and employment bills that will be the subject of its attention this year.

This year's primary effort to raise the state's minimum wage is again set for a hearing in the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee on April 8 (SB 3). Another bill set for hearing would regulate discussion of wages, and would create a comprehensive system for regulating equal pay based on gender in the workplace (SB 358).

Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez of San Diego is the lead author of three major employment bills, two of which relate to her paid sick leave bill of 2014. AB 304 is the "clean-up" bill for last year's paid sick leave bill (AB 1522), and AB 11 would add to the law's coverage a major group - home health care providers - excised from the bill at the last minute to obtain the Governor's approval. Her third bill, which she has dubbed "Double Pay on the Holiday Act of 2015," would require double time for certain hourly workers required to work on Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Other bills of interest would increase the minimum wage for tipped employees (AB 669), and would confirm the workplace rights of professional sports teams' cheerleaders (AB 202).

The key measures now on the legislative radar, either because of their subject matter or because they are among the first bills to be heard in policy committees, are:1

SB 3: Would increase the minimum wage, on and after January 1, 2016, to not less than $11 per hour, on and after July 1, 2017, to not less than $13 per hour; would require the annual automatic adjustment of the minimum wage, commencing January 1, 2019, to maintain employee purchasing power diminished by the rate of inflation during the previous year; the adjustment would be calculated using the California Consumer Price Index; would prohibit the Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) from adjusting the minimum wage downward and from adjusting the minimum wage if the average percentage of inflation for the previous year was negative; would require the Department of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) to publicize the automatically adjusted minimum wage; would provide that its provisions not be construed to preclude an increase in the minimum wage by the IWC to an amount greater than the formula would provide, to result in a reduction in the minimum wage, or to preclude or supersede an increase of the minimum wage that is greater than the state minimum wage by any local government or tribal government. The bill would apply to all industries, including public and private employment. Amends Labor Code section 1182.12. Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee.*

SB 358: This measure would:

Revise existing workplace prohibitions against employers to include forbidding discussions and inquiries regarding the wages of an employee, the wages of other employees, and workplace conditions; Require an employer to post these provisions in a conspicuous location frequented by employees during the hours of the workday. Existing law generally prohibits an employer from wage rate differentials based on sex in the same establishment for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and are performed under similar working conditions. Existing law establishes exceptions to that prohibition where the payment is made pursuant to a seniority system, a merit system, a system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production, or a differential based on any bona fide factor other than sex.This bill would:

Revise that prohibition to eliminate the requirement that the pay differential be within the same establishment, and would replace the terms "equal" work and equal skill, effort, and responsibility with comparable work and comparable skill, effort, and responsibility; Revise and recast the exceptions to require the employer to affirmatively demonstrate that a pay differential is based upon one or more specified factors, including seniority system, a merit system, a system that measures earnings by quantity or quality of production, or that work is performed at different geographic locations, on different shifts, or at different times of day. The bill would also require the employer to demonstrate that each factor relied upon is applied reasonably, and that the one or more factors relied upon account for the entire differential. Amends Labor Code sections 232, 232.5, and 1197.5. Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee.*

AB 11 would revise the definition of an employee under the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 [2013-2014's AB 1522] to, as of July 1, 2016, include providers of in-home support services. Amends, repeals, and adds Labor Code section 245.5. Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 67 would enact the "Double Pay on the Holiday Act of 2015," requiring an employer to pay at least two times the regular rate of pay to an employee for work on Thanksgiving or Christmas. Adds Labor Code section 511.5. Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 304 would amend the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 (paid sick leave; 2013-2014 AB 1522) to:

Require that the employee work for the same employer for 30 or more days within the previous 12 months in order to qualify for accrued sick leave under these provisions; Exclude a retired annuitant of a public entity and a worker covered by the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act from the Act's definition of "employee"; Delete the definition of a health care provider; Authorize an employer to provide for employee sick leave accrual on a basis other than one hour for each 30 hours worked, provided that the accrual is on a regular basis and the employee will have 24 hours of accrued sick leave available by the 120th calendar day of employment; Permit an employer who provides unlimited sick leave to its employees to satisfy notice requirements by indicating "unlimited" on the employee's itemized wage statement; Provide that if the employee receives a different hourly rate when the accrued sick leave is taken, the rate of pay would be calculated in the same manner as the regular rate of pay for purposes of overtime; and Provide that an employer is not required to reinstate accrued paid time off to an employee, rehired within one year of separation from employment, that was paid out at the time of termination, resignation, or separation. Amends Labor Code sections 245.5, 246, and 248.5. Assembly Labor and Employment Committee.

AB 357, the Fair Scheduling Act of 2015, would make legislative findings and declarations relating to work-hour scheduling for employees of food and general retail establishments, and would:

Require these covered employers to provide its employees with at least...