This year has yet again been busy for the California Legislature and Governor Gavin Newsom, as they enacted several significant changes to hiring and workforce management, wage and hour, COVID-19, and other employment laws.
Employers with California workforces should take steps now to understand these major changes and ensure they are ready to comply with the new laws in the coming year.
Unless otherwise noted, all new laws discussed below will take effect on January 1, 2023.
SB 523 amends California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) to include “reproductive health decisionmaking” as a new protected category. The law defines “reproductive health decisionmaking” as “a decision to use or access a particular drug, device, product, or medical service for reproductive health.” SB 523 makes clear that discrimination on the basis of “sex” may also include reproductive health decisionmaking. FEHA’s anti-discrimination provisions apply to employers with five or more employees. The law also makes it unlawful to require employees or applicants to disclose information regarding reproductive health decisionmaking, and amends certain Health & Safety Code sections related to the provision of contraceptive drugs, devices, products, and medical procedures pursuant to a group health care service plan contract.
In addition, new protections for the...
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