NEW LAWS IN CALIFORNIA 2020

AB 9 - Employment Discrimination: Limitations of Actions Effective Jan 1Extends the one-year period to three years for complaints alleging employment discrimination and harassment prohibited by the California Fair Employment and House Act (FEHA). Claims that have lapsed are not revived by this bill.

AB 51 - Employment Discrimination: Enforcement Effective Jan 1Essentially bans mandatory arbitration agreements and prohibits employers from requiring any applicant for employment or any employee to waive any right, forum, or procedure for a violation of any provision of the FEHA or other specific statutes governing employment.

AB 1554 - Employers: Dependent Care Assistance Program Effective Jan 1An employer must notify those who participate in flexible spending account of deadlines to withdraw funds before end of the plan year.

SB 83 - Paid Family Leave Effective July 1 Under SB 83, wage replacement benefits under the California Paid Family Leave (PFL increases from 6 weeks to 8 weeks.

SB 778 - Sexual harassment Training Effective Aug 2019Employers who employ five or more employees, including temporary or seasonal employees, were required to provide two hours of sexual harassment training to all supervisors and managers, and at least one hour of sexual harassment training to all non-supervisory employees, by January 1, 2020, and once every two years thereafter.

Minimum Wage Effective Jan 1As a reminder, the minimum wage in CA is increasing to $13.00 per hour on January 1 for employers with 26 or more employees. The minimum wage for employers with 25 or fewer employees will increase to $12.00 per hour on January 1.

Real ID for Travel within the US Effective Jan 1Real ID establishes minimum security standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and ID cards. These cards will be required to access Federal facilities, board federally regulated commercial aircraft, and to enter nuclear power plants.

AB 375 - Privacy: Personal Information: Businesses Effective Jan 1 The bill enacts the California Privacy Act of 2018, which requires businesses to disclose what personal information is collected, where it is collected from, who it is shared with, and how it is used. It would allow a consumer to request deletion of personal information or opt out of allowing their information to be sold.

AB 61 - Gun Violence Restraining Order Effective Sep 1This expands and amends existing law on who can request a restraining order to keep a person from obtaining, owning, purchasing, or having custody or control of a firearm. Now an employer, a coworker who has substantial and regular interactions with the person, or teacher of a secondary or postsecondary school, with approval from a school administrator of a school the person has attended in the last 6 months, can file for an ex parte, one-year, or renewed gun violence restraining order.

AB 218 - Childhood Sexual Assault: Statute of Limitations Effective Jan 1 Adult victims of child abuse now have until their 40th birthday to file claims (previously it was their 26th birthday).

This information is only a partial list and is not a comprehensive explanation of the upcoming 2020 California laws. It is being provided solely as a courtesy and merely as a guide. The laws in their entirety can be found at: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/home.xhtml

Below are a few of the new CA laws that will take effect this year