November 24, 2022 • 23 mins
In case you were hiding under a rock last year, California passed some major workplace legislation that will impact how managers and HR professionals operate in the Golden State. Join Kim Gusman and host Shari Simpson as they recap what you need to know as we head into 2023.
Guest: Kim (Parker) Gusman is the President and CEO of the California Employers Association (CEA).
Kim is an experienced HR Generalist, a dynamic speaker and a proven leader who has been successfully leading CEA since 2002. Thoroughly immersed in human resources and operations for over 25 years, Kim has various HR experiences in retail, insurance, and manufacturing environments. Kim exhibits her comprehensive bank of knowledge and crystal-clear strategic guidance with CEA members and staff daily.
Kim earned her BA degree in Business Administration, with a minor in Human Resources, at the University of Puget Sound.
In addition to her role as CEO at CEA, Kim is a founding member of the Employers Association of America. She is an active member of the California Society of Association Executives (CalSAE), where she serves on their Board of Directors and their Capital Region Council. Active with workforce development boards, she served on the Sacramento Works Board from 2004-2018.
Mentioned in the episode:
- California Employers Association: https://www.employers.org/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
(uplifting music)
- Hey, and welcome to PCTY Talks.
I'm your host, Shari Simpson.
During our time together,we'll stay close to the news
and info you need to succeed as an HR pro.
And together, we'll explore topics
around HR thought leadership, compliance,
(00:22):
and real life HR situationswe face every day.
(upbeat music)
Joining me today on thepodcast is Kim Gusman.
She is the president and CEO
at California Employers Association.
So glad, Kim, that you areable to jump on with me today.
- Thank you Shari, we arereally happy to be here.
- So I thought we could spend some time
(00:43):
today talking about some pieces
of California workplace legislation
that's been signed into effect.
In fact, we're gonna tryto tackle 10 of them.
'Cause I think it's so importantas we go into the new year
to have a good sense of what's out there.
And we all know that Californiais one of those states
that typically if it happens there,
we're gonna see it acrossthe country at some point.
So it's really good to have agood understanding with that.
(01:05):
So Kim, I thought maybe wecould start with FAST Act.
Tell me a little bit more about that.
- So they called it the FASTAct, and I'm glad they did,
because the real long terminology
is the Fast Food Accountabilityand Standards Recovery Act,
and who wants to try and remember that?
So the FAST Act, whichis Assembly Bill 257,
was actually signed by thegovernor back on Labor Day.
(01:28):
And it's really aimed atthe fast food industry,
specifically restaurantsthat are part of a chain
of 100 or more establishments.
But it really does includeother types of businesses
beyond what people wouldconsider fast food.
And what's so unprecedentedabout this is that,
for the first time ever, thebasics of the bill establish
(01:49):
a 10 member fast food sector council.
And this 10 member unelectedbody is gonna really regulate
and establish standardson wages, working hours
and other working conditionsthat are gonna be applicable
to the entire fast food industry.
And so unless lawmakers step in to prevent
(02:12):
these new establishedrules from, you know,
coming before the legislature,
they're going toautomatically go into effect.
And some of the key thingsthat really a lot of employers
are concerned about would besomething like wage raises.
For example, this FastFood Council, or the FFC,
is going to be allowedto set minimum wages,
(02:35):
and minimum standards on wages,and they're allowed to cap
those at $22 an hour in2023, which would be huge.
So that's a big part of the concern.
- It's interesting thatthey're looking at adding
another governing body, 'cause we all know
OSHA already exists, right,
governing some of that stuffin the food safety industry.
So that's really interesting
that they've gone this direction.
(02:56):
You know, there's another law out there
that I'd love to talkabout is the card check
for agricultural employees.
- Yes, this one is another big one.
I think that's what we'reseeing this year is, you know,
it was kind of quiet,it was all about COVID
over the last couple years.
And so now things have really come back,
and every industry is being touched.
So what I found interestingabout this AB 2183,
(03:18):
which is the card checkfor agriculture employees,
is that on the one hand,
you think, well, it only impacts farmers.
However, you know, uponfurther investigation,
some people may notrealize that California's
ag industry is the state'slargest economic driver.
It produces about 50billion in revenue annually.
And even more interestingis that California provides
(03:41):
more than a third of thecountry's vegetables and more
than two third of the entirecountry's fruits and nuts.
So it's huge, you know,
and it's a lot of workers being impacted.
But let me tell you reallykind of what it does,
it's really aimed at makingit easier for farm workers
to unionize in the state of California.
And it's really a very bigvictory for labor unions.
(04:04):
So employers will now havetwo options starting in 2023.
They can either agree toa labor piece agreement
with their employees,which means their employees
will be able to vote by mail-in ballots.
And in addition to that,what is really unusual
is that employers will notbe allowed to make statements
(04:25):
for or against the unionto their employees,
and they will not be allowed to have
captive audiencemeetings, which can happen
right now with their employees.
So that's one option.
The other option isthey can just say, hey,
we're gonna submit authorization cards,
and if a majority ofour employees sign them,
they're automaticallycertified without an election.
(04:45):
So either way, this isvery, very big news.
Again, labor unions are celebrating,
and many employers are concerned.
- It's really interesting,especially that last option
about, you know,automatically distributing
those authorization cards.
So a lot to consider ifyou're in the California
agriculture space to really have your mind
(05:06):
wrapped around as to whatyou're gonna do with that.
You know, one of the bigthings that we've talked about
over the last year, andit was interesting seeing
legislation come out of Colorado this week
in the legalization of mushrooms.
California is doing some interesting thing
around cannabis in the workplace.
So I'd love to hear alittle bit more about that.
- Yes, yes, and this is oneof the times where Colorado
(05:26):
is the leader instead ofCalifornia on a lot of stuff,
when it comes to cannabis in the state,
but also cannabis in the workplace.
Now, one thing to notebefore we jump into this one,
which is AB 2188, is that this cannabis
in the workplace AB 2188bill does not become
effective until January 1st, 2024.
(05:47):
Which means we've got time.
Employers have some timeto think about this,
and to implement it,an entire year in fact.
So, but this is nowallowing for employment
discrimination protections, pardon me,
regarding the lawful use ofcannabis in the workplace.
So what the bill basicallystates is that employers cannot
(06:08):
discriminate against a currentemployee or an applicant
for using cannabis whilethey're off the job
and away from the workplace.
Employers will be able to test for THC,
which is the chemical compound in cannabis
that causes impairment, andthat is usually detected
in the body within the last few hours.
(06:29):
But not for cannabismetabolites, which are stored
in the body after THC as metabolized.
So while the bill specifiesthat it doesn't permit
an employee to show up impairedby cannabis on the job,
or to possess any cannabiswhile they're on the job,
it's still going to be achallenge for employers,
(06:51):
because it really is not ageneral widespread easy test
for determining cannabis impairment.
I mean we all joke about,well, your eyes are red,
or you know, you're saying hey dude a lot,
or whatever it might be, but we've gotta
come up within the nextyear some better ways
to test for cannabis impairment.
And there are a coupleof exemptions, Shari,
(07:13):
so for example, AB 2188 willnot apply to any employees
in the building and construction trades,
which is a pretty big industry,and this new law will not
preempt requirementsfor federal contracts,
and it's not going tointerfere with specified
employer rights and andour right as an employer
(07:34):
to maintain a drug andalcohol-free workplace.
But it's gonna be a stickywicket and I'm glad we've got
a year to talk about it anda year to think about how
to implement this ineach of our workplaces.
- For sure, if theemployer rights to maintain
that drug and alcohol freeworkplace are still built in,
it's definitely something to navigate.
And I appreciate youtalking about there really
(07:55):
isn't that general widespreadtest to be able to tell,
you know, in the momentis somebody impaired.
So it'll be interesting tosee how the medical industry
and testing industry changesor evolves in the next year
before this goes into effect,so that's really interesting.
You know, the next one I want talk about
is pay transparency, Ifeel like this is something
we talk about a lot across the board.
(08:17):
- Well, that's true, that's true.
And maybe we keep talking about it,
'cause there's still alot of work to be done.
And California really continuesto push this envelope,
you know, they have, Californiaas a state has done a lot
to address pay inequities,several years ago,
we enacted legislationto require employers
with 100 or more employeesto file pay data reports.
(08:39):
And now SB 1162, we are calling this
the paid transparency bill, really expands
that law in a number of ways.
So I'll break it down a littlebit by size of employer,
'cause I think that'sobviously very important.
So many of the listeners are at just
very different employee headcounts.
So for private employers, this is private,
(09:01):
not public sector, private employers
with 100 or more employeesmust file pay data reports
regardless of whether they are required
to file a federal EE01
with the Equal EmploymentOpportunity Council.
But what this does it isspans the information required
to be included in those pay data reports,
(09:23):
so that now you have to includemedian and mean hourly rates
within each job category byrace, by ethnicity, and by sex.
And it requires employers whohave 100 or more employees
that are hired through labor contractors
to file a separate pay datareport covering those employees.
(09:44):
So, wow, you know, if you don't know a lot
about compensation work, you'reprobably gonna want to get
some help as an employeron how to do this,
'cause it's an awful lot of work.
Smaller employers, youknow, have been able,
those under 100 employees, pardon me,
have been able to say, hey, you know,
I don't have to worry about this.
But for 2023, there's a bigshock for smaller employers,
(10:05):
because those employers whohave 15 or more employees
will now need to includepay scale information
on every single jobposting they put out there.
So doesn't matter whatplatform you're using,
from the old fashioned Craigslist to some
of the newer software platforms
that are out thererecruiting and all that.
(10:27):
Or if you use a recruiting agency,
you've got to have a pay scale,
whether it's hourly or salary.
And again, fabulous newsfor those job seekers.
But employers who haven'tdone this in the past
are kind of nervous about that and having
to actually create those payscales and think about it.
And then finally, another part of this law
that really impacts every single employer,
(10:48):
it doesn't matter what size you are,
you now have to provide a pay scale,
like we just talked about,to any current employee
who's working for you if they request it.
So your employee comesto you and says, hey,
I know that I'm making X dollars per hour
or X dollars annually with my salary,
and I wanna know how high can I go,
(11:10):
what's my pay range, what's my pay scale?
And a lot of employers are thinking,
I don't know, we didn't have one.
So now it's going tobe time to create that.
And again, this iseffective January 1st, 2023.
- I do think we're gonna seea lot of new job postings
now that have the caveat of, you know,
California pay range, Colorado pay range.
(11:31):
You know, there's anotherpiece of legislation
coming out that I find really interesting,
and it goes along withhow we've seen changes
around leave across the country,
sick leave and differenttypes of that time.
This one has to do with bereavement leave.
- Yes, this is an interesting one.
This is AB 1949, and I loveyour comments about that, Shari,
because I do believe thatthe whole world has seen
(11:53):
throughout the pandemic morehumanity in the workplace,
more about being present,being where you need to be,
more about the work-life balance and how
there kind of isn't a balance,they just blend anymore,
now that we have so much remote
work going on in the country.
And so I do think thisis not a surprising bill.
And it's really been putbefore a couple times,
(12:14):
but I think it passedquite easily this time
because of, again, just collective trauma
that the world has facedthroughout the pandemic.
So Assembly Bill 1949 applies
to employers with five or more employees.
And what it does is it allows employees
to take up to five daysoff of bereavement leave
upon the death of a family member.
And when you wonder, wellwhat is a family member,
(12:36):
quote unquote, you would go under
the California FamilyRights Act, and that lists
all the definitions of whois or is not a family member.
Now this really isn'tgetting much opposition,
mainly because it's unpaid leave.
So really employers are notbeing asked to do anything
more than grant somebody five days off.
And again, let's have a littlehumanity in the workplace.
(12:57):
I don't think that's a big ask.
While it is unpaid, anemployee can certainly
use their other paid timeoff, maybe their vacation pay,
maybe your company haspersonal leave or sick leave,
or maybe they have compensatory time off,
if they're in the public sector.
And the few caveats around this are
that the bereavement leave has to be used
(13:18):
within three months of thedeath of a family member.
However, it does not haveto be used all at once.
So those five days canbe used intermittently.
Maybe there's two days off justbecause of shock and grief,
and we've gotta get some business handled,
and then maybe lateron there's going to be
a family memorial and so they need
to take some additional time off.
And the other caveatis it's only available
(13:39):
to employees who haveworked for the employer
for at least 30 days beforethey ask for the time off.
And you know, so again, I don't think
a big hardship to employers,
a very nice thing to do for employees.
Employers are reallygonna want to take a look
at their handbook policies,not only with some
of the other ones we've talked about,
but especially with this one.
The good news is, you know,employers are allowed,
(14:00):
and we certainly wouldencourage them at CEA
to request appropriate documentation.
Let's make sure there trulywas a death in the family.
And of course if you dothat for one employee,
you need to do that consistently,
and ask every employeethat that says, hey,
we've had a death in thefamily, I need documentation.
So you either ask everybody or nobody
for that documentation.
(14:21):
- You know what's interesting,there's other benefits
and legislation coming around I feel like
every time we turn the corner.
You know, there's another onethat came out in California,
you know, the family leave tocare for designated persons.
Maybe you could elaborate alittle bit more on that one.
- California's familyand medical leave law
has really seen dramatic expansion
over the last severalyears, as we talked about.
(14:43):
And you're right, so often itwas always those big employers
with 50 or more, but in recent years,
the California Family RightsAct had already extended
to cover smaller employers,and to expand the definition
of covered family members, and you know,
included adult children,which was very new,
siblings, grandparents, parents-in-law,
(15:03):
grandchildren, you know,just the list continues.
Well now that CFRA, orCalifornia Family Rights Act,
will be extended withthis Assembly Bill 1041,
and it now will say that anemployee can take job-protected
leave to care for a designated person.
(15:23):
And the bill defines a designatedperson as any individual
related by blood whoseassociation with the employee
is the equivalent ofa family relationship.
So they can be designated by,a designated person to mean
any individual related by blood
or whose association with the employee
(15:44):
is the equivalent ofa family relationship.
And that would not be a blood relative.
And unfortunately, which so often happens
with these new bills,the legislation does not
really clearly define any further
than what I just said what this means.
So employers are gonna be kindof scratching their heads,
going are you the equivalentof a family relationship?
(16:08):
The other little thing that's kind of new
and it will have to be sortedout, as often happens, again,
with these new bills is that an employee
can identify that designatedperson in advance,
but then they may want tochange their mind later on.
And employers will have theability to say you only get
to designate one personper 12 month period.
So what if somebody changestheir mind during that period,
(16:30):
and that person's nolonger an important person
in their life or not there?
So there's still a lot of stuff
to be figured out on this particular bill
more than any others I'veseen that have passed.
- There definitely is a movetowards giving employees
more say in how they use their benefits,
but there's complexities toit, like you just mentioned,
you know, without thedetails in the legislation
(16:52):
on how we're supposed to do that, right.
Us as HR professionals areleft to figure that out.
So definitely gonna bea challenge for sure.
The next one I wanna talk about,
it's the emergency conditions legislation.
I'd love to hear more about that one.
- Yes, and you're right, you know,
I think all of us in California have been
so concerned about wildfireover the last few years,
it's been devastating to the wildlife,
(17:15):
to our land, to employers, to employees.
It's just, the economy,everyone's been impacted.
So this one, this is a Senate Bill,
as opposed to an AssemblyBill, Senate Bill 1044
is really all about emergency conditions.
And it was brought aboutin response to concerns
over reports of employeeswho are being required
(17:37):
to work in unsafe wildfire conditions.
And so this senate billprohibits an employer,
anytime there is a quoteunquote emergency condition,
from taking any adverseaction against an employee
for refusing to report to workor for leaving a workplace
or a work site anytime thatemployee has a reasonable belief
(18:01):
that the workplace or thework site might be unsafe.
Now, emergency conditionis going to be defined
as conditions of disaster orperil caused by natural forces,
of a criminal act, oran order to evacuate,
whether that's evacuatinga workplace, a work site
your home, or maybe even theschool of a worker's child.
(18:23):
And the big thing that I think employers
got nervous about here that I want
to point out is the emergency condition
does not include COVID, itdoes not include a pandemic.
So SB 1044 will not beapplicable to employees who claim
the work safe, the work site, pardon me,
(18:44):
is unsafe because there's COVID here.
This is really not about that.
This is really about wildfire conditions
and other emergency situations
and actual you know, natural disasters.
- I think that's a really good call out.
Just the difference betweenwhat's gonna be included
in this and in other types of legislation.
You know, our last threepieces of legislation
(19:07):
that I want to cover are all around COVID.
So maybe you can justcover those three next.
- Sure thing, you know,you gotta end with COVID.
We thought it was gone, it is not gone.
We all know that.
And so we have to laugh about it, right?
Otherwise we might just, we might just cry
about it and crawl on a hole.
So yes, let's end our,our top 10 list with three
(19:30):
final COVID bills, sinceit is still with us.
So Governor Newsome extended
the California COVID-19Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Act.
And he's extended it throughthe end of this year.
So the law does not providea new allotment of leave,
but it does extend the time employees
have to use any remaining leave.
So, as a reminder, employeeswere given 80 hours
(19:52):
to use for COVIDsupplemental paid sick leave.
And again, back inSeptember 20, September 29th
this was supposed to stop and sunset,
but the governor went ahead and signed
what we call a budget trailer bill,
which meant it wentinto effect immediately.
And again, it continued the SPSL,
(20:13):
the supplemental paid sick leave
through December 31st of 2022.
The other thing is employersmay want to take a peek
and look at some SPSLrelief grant programs
that were also brought about by this,
where employers can get somereimbursement financially
to help pay for the factthat they had to pay
(20:34):
their employees for this this leave.
Another one, the other two I should say,
are Assembly Bill 2693and Assembly Bill 1751.
Both of these reallyextend COVID-19 legislation
that was set to expireat the end of the year.
And it now is going to extendit into all of next year
(20:55):
and until January 1st of 2024.
So the first one I want to talkabout is kind of a two part,
part one of 2693 says that thestatutory notice requirements
that employers have to provide, you know,
when we have to tell your employees, hey,
somebody else in theworkplace that you might
have been around has been exposed
(21:15):
to COVID-19 in the workplace,that's gonna have to continue
for the rest of this yearand all of next year.
It also requires employers,in lieu of giving
individual notices, theymight, they can now just simply
post a notice in the workplace for 15 days
when there has been a COVID-19 exposure.
That's certainly a lot easier.
(21:38):
But again, the employer can also have
the alternative of providing
individual notices asthey've always been doing.
So if you're comfortablewith the the program
you're already on, continue it.
Especially if your peopleare remote or whatnot.
You know, that notice inthe workplace may not work.
It just depends what kindof an industry you're in.
And then the final and secondpart two of that COVID law
(21:58):
is Assembly Bill 1751, which just extends
a previous rebuttal presumption.
Again, we've already beenliving with this law,
but it's just gonna carryit all the way through
throughout 2023, which saysfor workers' comp purposes
for COVID-19, there isa rebuttal presumption
that certain COVID-19cases are work related
(22:21):
under outbreak circumstances.
So if there's an outbreakat work of COVID,
and somebody says, well, I got COVID,
I'm not sure where we got it,
there's going to be anassumption or a presumption
that you know what, it happened at work,
and people need to continue to notify
the worker's compadministrator and make sure
you are reporting those claimsto workers' compensation.
(22:46):
They can determine whether the person
is entitled to any worker's comp benefits.
- Wow, there is so muchgoing on in California
we have to pay attention to.
And we just covered the top 10.
So in our show notes, I will definitely
link out to all of thelegislation we talked about,
If you want to read more in depthly
and decipher it yourself,or you could always
(23:08):
reach out to CaliforniaEmployers Association,
look at joining them as a member,
because I think you have alot of really great resources
for those listening thatare located in California.
So Kim, thanks for takinga few minutes of your day
to go through all of this really important
legislation we need to pay attention to.
- You are so welcome, Shari, thank you,
thanks a lot for askingus to be here today.
(23:30):
- This podcast is broughtto you by Paylocity,
a leading HCM provider thatfrees you from the tasks
of today so you can focus moreon the promise of tomorrow.
If you'd like to submit atopic or appear as a guest
on a future episode, email usat PCTYtalks@paylocity.com.
(uplifting music)
- Hey, and welcome to PCTY Talks.
I'm your host, Shari Simpson.
During our time together,we'll stay close to the news
and info you need to succeed as an HR pro.
And together, we'll explore topics
around HR thought leadership, compliance,
(00:22):
and real life HR situationswe face every day.
(upbeat music)
Joining me today on thepodcast is Kim Gusman.
She is the president and CEO
at California Employers Association.
So glad, Kim, that you areable to jump on with me today.
- Thank you Shari, we arereally happy to be here.
- So I thought we could spend some time
(00:43):
today talking about some pieces
of California workplace legislation
that's been signed into effect.
In fact, we're gonna tryto tackle 10 of them.
'Cause I think it's so importantas we go into the new year
to have a good sense of what's out there.
And we all know that Californiais one of those states
that typically if it happens there,
we're gonna see it acrossthe country at some point.
So it's really good to have agood understanding with that.
(01:05):
So Kim, I thought maybe wecould start with FAST Act.
Tell me a little bit more about that.
- So they called it the FASTAct, and I'm glad they did,
because the real long terminology
is the Fast Food Accountabilityand Standards Recovery Act,
and who wants to try and remember that?
So the FAST Act, whichis Assembly Bill 257,
was actually signed by thegovernor back on Labor Day.
(01:28):
And it's really aimed atthe fast food industry,
specifically restaurantsthat are part of a chain
of 100 or more establishments.
But it really does includeother types of businesses
beyond what people wouldconsider fast food.
And what's so unprecedentedabout this is that,
for the first time ever, thebasics of the bill establish
(01:49):
a 10 member fast food sector council.
And this 10 member unelectedbody is gonna really regulate
and establish standardson wages, working hours
and other working conditionsthat are gonna be applicable
to the entire fast food industry.
And so unless lawmakers step in to prevent
(02:12):
these new establishedrules from, you know,
coming before the legislature,
they're going toautomatically go into effect.
And some of the key thingsthat really a lot of employers
are concerned about would besomething like wage raises.
For example, this FastFood Council, or the FFC,
is going to be allowedto set minimum wages,
(02:35):
and minimum standards on wages,and they're allowed to cap
those at $22 an hour in2023, which would be huge.
So that's a big part of the concern.
- It's interesting thatthey're looking at adding
another governing body, 'cause we all know
OSHA already exists, right,
governing some of that stuffin the food safety industry.
So that's really interesting
that they've gone this direction.
(02:56):
You know, there's another law out there
that I'd love to talkabout is the card check
for agricultural employees.
- Yes, this one is another big one.
I think that's what we'reseeing this year is, you know,
it was kind of quiet,it was all about COVID
over the last couple years.
And so now things have really come back,
and every industry is being touched.
So what I found interestingabout this AB 2183,
(03:18):
which is the card checkfor agriculture employees,
is that on the one hand,
you think, well, it only impacts farmers.
However, you know, uponfurther investigation,
some people may notrealize that California's
ag industry is the state'slargest economic driver.
It produces about 50billion in revenue annually.
And even more interestingis that California provides
(03:41):
more than a third of thecountry's vegetables and more
than two third of the entirecountry's fruits and nuts.
So it's huge, you know,
and it's a lot of workers being impacted.
But let me tell you reallykind of what it does,
it's really aimed at makingit easier for farm workers
to unionize in the state of California.
And it's really a very bigvictory for labor unions.
(04:04):
So employers will now havetwo options starting in 2023.
They can either agree toa labor piece agreement
with their employees,which means their employees
will be able to vote by mail-in ballots.
And in addition to that,what is really unusual
is that employers will notbe allowed to make statements
(04:25):
for or against the unionto their employees,
and they will not be allowed to have
captive audiencemeetings, which can happen
right now with their employees.
So that's one option.
The other option isthey can just say, hey,
we're gonna submit authorization cards,
and if a majority ofour employees sign them,
they're automaticallycertified without an election.
(04:45):
So either way, this isvery, very big news.
Again, labor unions are celebrating,
and many employers are concerned.
- It's really interesting,especially that last option
about, you know,automatically distributing
those authorization cards.
So a lot to consider ifyou're in the California
agriculture space to really have your mind
(05:06):
wrapped around as to whatyou're gonna do with that.
You know, one of the bigthings that we've talked about
over the last year, andit was interesting seeing
legislation come out of Colorado this week
in the legalization of mushrooms.
California is doing some interesting thing
around cannabis in the workplace.
So I'd love to hear alittle bit more about that.
- Yes, yes, and this is oneof the times where Colorado
(05:26):
is the leader instead ofCalifornia on a lot of stuff,
when it comes to cannabis in the state,
but also cannabis in the workplace.
Now, one thing to notebefore we jump into this one,
which is AB 2188, is that this cannabis
in the workplace AB 2188bill does not become
effective until January 1st, 2024.
(05:47):
Which means we've got time.
Employers have some timeto think about this,
and to implement it,an entire year in fact.
So, but this is nowallowing for employment
discrimination protections, pardon me,
regarding the lawful use ofcannabis in the workplace.
So what the bill basicallystates is that employers cannot
(06:08):
discriminate against a currentemployee or an applicant
for using cannabis whilethey're off the job
and away from the workplace.
Employers will be able to test for THC,
which is the chemical compound in cannabis
that causes impairment, andthat is usually detected
in the body within the last few hours.
(06:29):
But not for cannabismetabolites, which are stored
in the body after THC as metabolized.
So while the bill specifiesthat it doesn't permit
an employee to show up impairedby cannabis on the job,
or to possess any cannabiswhile they're on the job,
it's still going to be achallenge for employers,
(06:51):
because it really is not ageneral widespread easy test
for determining cannabis impairment.
I mean we all joke about,well, your eyes are red,
or you know, you're saying hey dude a lot,
or whatever it might be, but we've gotta
come up within the nextyear some better ways
to test for cannabis impairment.
And there are a coupleof exemptions, Shari,
(07:13):
so for example, AB 2188 willnot apply to any employees
in the building and construction trades,
which is a pretty big industry,and this new law will not
preempt requirementsfor federal contracts,
and it's not going tointerfere with specified
employer rights and andour right as an employer
(07:34):
to maintain a drug andalcohol-free workplace.
But it's gonna be a stickywicket and I'm glad we've got
a year to talk about it anda year to think about how
to implement this ineach of our workplaces.
- For sure, if theemployer rights to maintain
that drug and alcohol freeworkplace are still built in,
it's definitely something to navigate.
And I appreciate youtalking about there really
(07:55):
isn't that general widespreadtest to be able to tell,
you know, in the momentis somebody impaired.
So it'll be interesting tosee how the medical industry
and testing industry changesor evolves in the next year
before this goes into effect,so that's really interesting.
You know, the next one I want talk about
is pay transparency, Ifeel like this is something
we talk about a lot across the board.
(08:17):
- Well, that's true, that's true.
And maybe we keep talking about it,
'cause there's still alot of work to be done.
And California really continuesto push this envelope,
you know, they have, Californiaas a state has done a lot
to address pay inequities,several years ago,
we enacted legislationto require employers
with 100 or more employeesto file pay data reports.
(08:39):
And now SB 1162, we are calling this
the paid transparency bill, really expands
that law in a number of ways.
So I'll break it down a littlebit by size of employer,
'cause I think that'sobviously very important.
So many of the listeners are at just
very different employee headcounts.
So for private employers, this is private,
(09:01):
not public sector, private employers
with 100 or more employeesmust file pay data reports
regardless of whether they are required
to file a federal EE01
with the Equal EmploymentOpportunity Council.
But what this does it isspans the information required
to be included in those pay data reports,
(09:23):
so that now you have to includemedian and mean hourly rates
within each job category byrace, by ethnicity, and by sex.
And it requires employers whohave 100 or more employees
that are hired through labor contractors
to file a separate pay datareport covering those employees.
(09:44):
So, wow, you know, if you don't know a lot
about compensation work, you'reprobably gonna want to get
some help as an employeron how to do this,
'cause it's an awful lot of work.
Smaller employers, youknow, have been able,
those under 100 employees, pardon me,
have been able to say, hey, you know,
I don't have to worry about this.
But for 2023, there's a bigshock for smaller employers,
(10:05):
because those employers whohave 15 or more employees
will now need to includepay scale information
on every single jobposting they put out there.
So doesn't matter whatplatform you're using,
from the old fashioned Craigslist to some
of the newer software platforms
that are out thererecruiting and all that.
(10:27):
Or if you use a recruiting agency,
you've got to have a pay scale,
whether it's hourly or salary.
And again, fabulous newsfor those job seekers.
But employers who haven'tdone this in the past
are kind of nervous about that and having
to actually create those payscales and think about it.
And then finally, another part of this law
that really impacts every single employer,
(10:48):
it doesn't matter what size you are,
you now have to provide a pay scale,
like we just talked about,to any current employee
who's working for you if they request it.
So your employee comesto you and says, hey,
I know that I'm making X dollars per hour
or X dollars annually with my salary,
and I wanna know how high can I go,
(11:10):
what's my pay range, what's my pay scale?
And a lot of employers are thinking,
I don't know, we didn't have one.
So now it's going tobe time to create that.
And again, this iseffective January 1st, 2023.
- I do think we're gonna seea lot of new job postings
now that have the caveat of, you know,
California pay range, Colorado pay range.
(11:31):
You know, there's anotherpiece of legislation
coming out that I find really interesting,
and it goes along withhow we've seen changes
around leave across the country,
sick leave and differenttypes of that time.
This one has to do with bereavement leave.
- Yes, this is an interesting one.
This is AB 1949, and I loveyour comments about that, Shari,
because I do believe thatthe whole world has seen
(11:53):
throughout the pandemic morehumanity in the workplace,
more about being present,being where you need to be,
more about the work-life balance and how
there kind of isn't a balance,they just blend anymore,
now that we have so much remote
work going on in the country.
And so I do think thisis not a surprising bill.
And it's really been putbefore a couple times,
(12:14):
but I think it passedquite easily this time
because of, again, just collective trauma
that the world has facedthroughout the pandemic.
So Assembly Bill 1949 applies
to employers with five or more employees.
And what it does is it allows employees
to take up to five daysoff of bereavement leave
upon the death of a family member.
And when you wonder, wellwhat is a family member,
(12:36):
quote unquote, you would go under
the California FamilyRights Act, and that lists
all the definitions of whois or is not a family member.
Now this really isn'tgetting much opposition,
mainly because it's unpaid leave.
So really employers are notbeing asked to do anything
more than grant somebody five days off.
And again, let's have a littlehumanity in the workplace.
(12:57):
I don't think that's a big ask.
While it is unpaid, anemployee can certainly
use their other paid timeoff, maybe their vacation pay,
maybe your company haspersonal leave or sick leave,
or maybe they have compensatory time off,
if they're in the public sector.
And the few caveats around this are
that the bereavement leave has to be used
(13:18):
within three months of thedeath of a family member.
However, it does not haveto be used all at once.
So those five days canbe used intermittently.
Maybe there's two days off justbecause of shock and grief,
and we've gotta get some business handled,
and then maybe lateron there's going to be
a family memorial and so they need
to take some additional time off.
And the other caveatis it's only available
(13:39):
to employees who haveworked for the employer
for at least 30 days beforethey ask for the time off.
And you know, so again, I don't think
a big hardship to employers,
a very nice thing to do for employees.
Employers are reallygonna want to take a look
at their handbook policies,not only with some
of the other ones we've talked about,
but especially with this one.
The good news is, you know,employers are allowed,
(14:00):
and we certainly wouldencourage them at CEA
to request appropriate documentation.
Let's make sure there trulywas a death in the family.
And of course if you dothat for one employee,
you need to do that consistently,
and ask every employeethat that says, hey,
we've had a death in thefamily, I need documentation.
So you either ask everybody or nobody
for that documentation.
(14:21):
- You know what's interesting,there's other benefits
and legislation coming around I feel like
every time we turn the corner.
You know, there's another onethat came out in California,
you know, the family leave tocare for designated persons.
Maybe you could elaborate alittle bit more on that one.
- California's familyand medical leave law
has really seen dramatic expansion
over the last severalyears, as we talked about.
(14:43):
And you're right, so often itwas always those big employers
with 50 or more, but in recent years,
the California Family RightsAct had already extended
to cover smaller employers,and to expand the definition
of covered family members, and you know,
included adult children,which was very new,
siblings, grandparents, parents-in-law,
(15:03):
grandchildren, you know,just the list continues.
Well now that CFRA, orCalifornia Family Rights Act,
will be extended withthis Assembly Bill 1041,
and it now will say that anemployee can take job-protected
leave to care for a designated person.
(15:23):
And the bill defines a designatedperson as any individual
related by blood whoseassociation with the employee
is the equivalent ofa family relationship.
So they can be designated by,a designated person to mean
any individual related by blood
or whose association with the employee
(15:44):
is the equivalent ofa family relationship.
And that would not be a blood relative.
And unfortunately, which so often happens
with these new bills,the legislation does not
really clearly define any further
than what I just said what this means.
So employers are gonna be kindof scratching their heads,
going are you the equivalentof a family relationship?
(16:08):
The other little thing that's kind of new
and it will have to be sortedout, as often happens, again,
with these new bills is that an employee
can identify that designatedperson in advance,
but then they may want tochange their mind later on.
And employers will have theability to say you only get
to designate one personper 12 month period.
So what if somebody changestheir mind during that period,
(16:30):
and that person's nolonger an important person
in their life or not there?
So there's still a lot of stuff
to be figured out on this particular bill
more than any others I'veseen that have passed.
- There definitely is a movetowards giving employees
more say in how they use their benefits,
but there's complexities toit, like you just mentioned,
you know, without thedetails in the legislation
(16:52):
on how we're supposed to do that, right.
Us as HR professionals areleft to figure that out.
So definitely gonna bea challenge for sure.
The next one I wanna talk about,
it's the emergency conditions legislation.
I'd love to hear more about that one.
- Yes, and you're right, you know,
I think all of us in California have been
so concerned about wildfireover the last few years,
it's been devastating to the wildlife,
(17:15):
to our land, to employers, to employees.
It's just, the economy,everyone's been impacted.
So this one, this is a Senate Bill,
as opposed to an AssemblyBill, Senate Bill 1044
is really all about emergency conditions.
And it was brought aboutin response to concerns
over reports of employeeswho are being required
(17:37):
to work in unsafe wildfire conditions.
And so this senate billprohibits an employer,
anytime there is a quoteunquote emergency condition,
from taking any adverseaction against an employee
for refusing to report to workor for leaving a workplace
or a work site anytime thatemployee has a reasonable belief
(18:01):
that the workplace or thework site might be unsafe.
Now, emergency conditionis going to be defined
as conditions of disaster orperil caused by natural forces,
of a criminal act, oran order to evacuate,
whether that's evacuatinga workplace, a work site
your home, or maybe even theschool of a worker's child.
(18:23):
And the big thing that I think employers
got nervous about here that I want
to point out is the emergency condition
does not include COVID, itdoes not include a pandemic.
So SB 1044 will not beapplicable to employees who claim
the work safe, the work site, pardon me,
(18:44):
is unsafe because there's COVID here.
This is really not about that.
This is really about wildfire conditions
and other emergency situations
and actual you know, natural disasters.
- I think that's a really good call out.
Just the difference betweenwhat's gonna be included
in this and in other types of legislation.
You know, our last threepieces of legislation
(19:07):
that I want to cover are all around COVID.
So maybe you can justcover those three next.
- Sure thing, you know,you gotta end with COVID.
We thought it was gone, it is not gone.
We all know that.
And so we have to laugh about it, right?
Otherwise we might just, we might just cry
about it and crawl on a hole.
So yes, let's end our,our top 10 list with three
(19:30):
final COVID bills, sinceit is still with us.
So Governor Newsome extended
the California COVID-19Supplemental Paid Sick Leave Act.
And he's extended it throughthe end of this year.
So the law does not providea new allotment of leave,
but it does extend the time employees
have to use any remaining leave.
So, as a reminder, employeeswere given 80 hours
(19:52):
to use for COVIDsupplemental paid sick leave.
And again, back inSeptember 20, September 29th
this was supposed to stop and sunset,
but the governor went ahead and signed
what we call a budget trailer bill,
which meant it wentinto effect immediately.
And again, it continued the SPSL,
(20:13):
the supplemental paid sick leave
through December 31st of 2022.
The other thing is employersmay want to take a peek
and look at some SPSLrelief grant programs
that were also brought about by this,
where employers can get somereimbursement financially
to help pay for the factthat they had to pay
(20:34):
their employees for this this leave.
Another one, the other two I should say,
are Assembly Bill 2693and Assembly Bill 1751.
Both of these reallyextend COVID-19 legislation
that was set to expireat the end of the year.
And it now is going to extendit into all of next year
(20:55):
and until January 1st of 2024.
So the first one I want to talkabout is kind of a two part,
part one of 2693 says that thestatutory notice requirements
that employers have to provide, you know,
when we have to tell your employees, hey,
somebody else in theworkplace that you might
have been around has been exposed
(21:15):
to COVID-19 in the workplace,that's gonna have to continue
for the rest of this yearand all of next year.
It also requires employers,in lieu of giving
individual notices, theymight, they can now just simply
post a notice in the workplace for 15 days
when there has been a COVID-19 exposure.
That's certainly a lot easier.
(21:38):
But again, the employer can also have
the alternative of providing
individual notices asthey've always been doing.
So if you're comfortablewith the the program
you're already on, continue it.
Especially if your peopleare remote or whatnot.
You know, that notice inthe workplace may not work.
It just depends what kindof an industry you're in.
And then the final and secondpart two of that COVID law
(21:58):
is Assembly Bill 1751, which just extends
a previous rebuttal presumption.
Again, we've already beenliving with this law,
but it's just gonna carryit all the way through
throughout 2023, which saysfor workers' comp purposes
for COVID-19, there isa rebuttal presumption
that certain COVID-19cases are work related
(22:21):
under outbreak circumstances.
So if there's an outbreakat work of COVID,
and somebody says, well, I got COVID,
I'm not sure where we got it,
there's going to be anassumption or a presumption
that you know what, it happened at work,
and people need to continue to notify
the worker's compadministrator and make sure
you are reporting those claimsto workers' compensation.
(22:46):
They can determine whether the person
is entitled to any worker's comp benefits.
- Wow, there is so muchgoing on in California
we have to pay attention to.
And we just covered the top 10.
So in our show notes, I will definitely
link out to all of thelegislation we talked about,
If you want to read more in depthly
and decipher it yourself,or you could always
(23:08):
reach out to CaliforniaEmployers Association,
look at joining them as a member,
because I think you have alot of really great resources
for those listening thatare located in California.
So Kim, thanks for takinga few minutes of your day
to go through all of this really important
legislation we need to pay attention to.
- You are so welcome, Shari, thank you,
thanks a lot for askingus to be here today.
(23:30):
- This podcast is broughtto you by Paylocity,
a leading HCM provider thatfrees you from the tasks
of today so you can focus moreon the promise of tomorrow.
If you'd like to submit atopic or appear as a guest
on a future episode, email usat PCTYtalks@paylocity.com.
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