Good morning,  welcome back to my latest Monday Morning Briefing.   I’ve been on a two week hiatus since my trip half way around the world and took off for Rosh HaShanah last week (Happy 5783 for those who also count the same way).   I had hoped to have a little time to wistfully posting about the joys of being able to travel internationally again, and the sheer awe of being in London during one of its most historic moments.  But alas, we have a jammed packed episode today!  It is the first week of October; the United States Supreme Court is back in session; the California Legislature is done, and Governor Newsom had to either sign or not sign all the bills presented to him by September 30.  That means, we now know the new employment laws for 2023.     The COVID numbers are nice and low, and the stores and restaurants are packed, but just as there is a new bivariant vaccine released, there is also talk of yet another winter surge headed our way.  Time to make sure we are super healthy as we head into this holiday season.

But forget COVID, let’s talk NEW CALIFORNIA EMPLOYMENT LAWS!  What better way to start a Monday??

CALIFORNIA COVID PAY IS STAYING THROUGH THE END OF 2022

Okay, I lied.  We are talking about COVID for a minute.  And this isn’t a 2023 employment law; it’s an extension of a 2022 law that was supposed to end, but it did not.   Our California Supplemental COVID pay was due to expire at the end of September, as it has the last two years, but as I pointed out, COVID is not quite done with us yet, so the state is extending California SPSL, Supplemental Paid Sick Leave for COVID.

Here is the good news (yes, there really is good news).  First, there is no additional time off being added, just time in which to take the already allotted 2022 time.  So if your employees already used all their COVID pay this year (and some of you told me that there seemed to be a rush to use it as employees thought it was expiring the end of last month), well, it’s gone now. 

Second, and this is really good news for small employers, the state is providing a grant program for small businesses between 26 – 49 employees to help offset the cost of providing this supplemental COVID pay and losing workers.  The reason it is not available for smaller employers under 26 is that employers under 26 don’t have to offer COVID pay at all (we assume you small employers already know that).  There was a strong push by many trade groups (including the California Restaurant Association) and the Chambers of Commerce to provide support to larger employers as well.  You may remember that there was talk about providing this grant money way back when this COVID pay requirement was renewed for 2022, so it looks like they actually did make good on a little bit of their promise.

CALIORNIA PASSES AB 1041 – EXPANDING FAMILY LEAVE TO INCLUDE CARING FOR A SPECIAL “DESIGNATED PERSON”

As California employers know, over the last few years, California has greatly expanded the rights of employees to take time off from the workplace, some paid, some unpaid, to care for themselves or family members under various circumstances.  We have seen the reasons for the leaves be expanded; we have seen the length of time of the leaves expanded; and we have seen the size of the covered employer  expanded (now employers as small as 5 employees are now governed by the California Family Rights Act). 

By the way, this is a reflection of a trend occurring nationally, not just here in California.  Indeed, both Republican and Democrat leaders have been echoing the need for more family care laws at both the state and federal level. 

This year, Governor Newsom signed AB 1041, which closely resembles the law already in place in Oakland (not surprisingly, AB 1041 was authored by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks from Oakland), which allows employees to designate one person annually who would fall within that employee’s “chosen family” for purposes of caring for a family member.  The designation would thereby allow the employee to use any or all of their 12 weeks in that year to care for that person under the employer’s family leave policy.    Employees can wait to identify the person at the time they request the leave or paid sick leave, according to the bill.  Because of this nuance, managers, shift leads, and anyone else interfacing with employees about time off requests will need to be specifically trained on how to screen for these time off requests, because they will not necessarily come with a big neon sign that says “I AM ASKING FOR A CFRA LEAVE TO CARE FOR A DESIGNATED NON RELATIVE.”  More likely, you’re going to see something like “I’m out today because my boyfriend is sick.” You can imagine what a nightmare this is going to be. 

Weren’t we just talking about the importance of manager training?  Sorry, I digress. 

By the way, this change, and a few others coming, will be included in the Raines Feldman 2023 Employee Handbook Updates, announcements coming to your Inbox soon!

OTHER NEW LAWS SIGNED, SB 1162 (RE PAY TRANSPARENCY AND JOB POSTINGS), AB 2188 (RE CANNABIS USE PROTECTION), AND

AB 257 ( FAST RECOVERY ACT – TO “PROTECT” RIGHTS OF FAST FOOD EMPLOYEES )

I’m going to tease you with the headlines for these until next week, or I will wind up spending my entire day drafting this Briefing.  Anyway, I already wrote about the FAST Act, and AB 2188 doesn’t go into effect until 2024.  And we are going to need some time to talk about SB 1162.  I fear that one is going to get messy.  And it has PAGA strings attached to its non-compliance.  So look out.

THE CCPA IS COMING.  FOR REAL THIS TIME.

One last tease, and I will get into this in more detail later as well.  You all remember the California Consumer Privacy Act, don’t you? You don’t?  Oh, come on, yes you do. It was this law we all thought was going to be this big thing before this other big thing, the pandemic happened.  It went into effect back in 2018 covering companies that have at least $25 million in annual revenue or that handle a certain size of data equivalent, but the test is a bit murky.  There was a general third party component to the CCPA that some of you may have implemented, but there is also a specific employer portion to it that was supposed to go into effect in 2020, but didn’t, because of that worldwide health crisis that shutdown everything.   So the employer portion of the CCPA was postponed in 2020, and again in 2021, and again in 2022 . . .but guess what?  With very little fanfare, it appears to be happening for real in 2023. 

What does that mean for you?   Well, stay tuned, because we will be telling you.  In fact, we will having our IP partner, David Schwartz, put together everything that employers will need to know to be compliant with the CCPA in plenty of time for 2023.   And it’s going to be fun. 

Okay, so I feel like that was a lot.  Maybe it just felt like a lot for me, because it was all new, substantive material I had to look up and regurgitate for you.  And there is more coming.  But it’s that time of year, and the updates are coming, and this is our go time.  Looking forward to going through the end of 2022 with all of you. 

And now that I am at the end, I will just add VERY quickly that traveling internationally right now feels life affirming.  Please do it if you have the chance.  Speaking with people in Europe about how they lived through COVID, how they are dealing with their country’s own inflation and high petrol prices, how passionately they feel about Ukraine – makes you feel so connected to a bigger world community.    And . . .hopeful.  That 2023 will be better for us all.

And the leaves were changing.  Fall is here. 

#StandWithUkraine