Summary Of Key New California Laws For 2017: What Employers Should Know

Governor Brown has this year signed several new laws impacting California employers, some of which have already gone into effect and others that will be effective or operative in 2017 or later. A summary of key new laws follows. The effective date of the particular new law is indicated in the heading of the Assembly Bill (AB) and/or Senate Bill (SB).1 The list below is in numerical order by the AB or SB.

ABX2-7 - Smoking in the Workplace (Effective June 9, 2016)

By way of background, California law already prohibited smoking of tobacco products inside an enclosed at a place of employment for certain employers. This Bill amends Labor Code Section 6404.5 and expands the prohibition on smoking of tobacco products in all enclosed places of employment to all employers of any size, including a place of employment where the owner-operator is the only employee (i.e., owner-operated business). "'Enclosed space' includes covered parking lots, lobbies, lounges, waiting areas, elevators, stairwells, and restrooms that are a structural part of the building." There are, however, certain exemptions. "Place of employment" does not include: (1) 20% of the guestroom accommodations in a hotel, motel, or similar transient lodging establishment; (2) Retail or wholesale tobacco shops and private smokers' lounges; (3) cabs of motortrucks; (4) theatrical production sites, if smoking is an integral part of the story in the theatrical production; (5) medical research or treatment sites, if smoking is integral to the research and treatment being conducted; (6) private residences, except for licensed family day care homes; (7) patient smoking areas in long-term health care facilities.

A violation this law is punishable by a fine not to exceed $100 for a first violation, $200 for a second violation within one year, and $500 for a third and for each subsequent violation within one year.

AB 908 - Paid Family Leave (Operative January 1, 2018)

Paid Family Leave (PFL) provides short-term benefits to eligible employees who lose wages when they need to take time off work to care for a seriously ill child, parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, or registered domestic partner, or to bond with a new child entering the family by birth, adoption, or foster care placement.

This Bill revises the formula for determining benefits available to those eligible employees "for periods of disability commencing after January 1, 2018, but before January 1, 2022." This Bill provides "a weekly benefit amount minimum of $50 and increases the wage replacement rate to specified percentages, but not to exceed the maximum workers' compensation temporary disability indemnity weekly benefit amount established by the Department of Industrial Relations pursuant to existing law." Further, this Bill removes the existing seven-day waiting period for paid family leave benefits.2

AB 1066 - Wages, Hours and Working Conditions for Agricultural Workers (Effective January 1, 2017)

Currently, agricultural workers who work more than 10 hours per day are to receive overtime pay at one-and-half...