As usual, the new year will bring a slew of new California employment laws. Following is a summary of many of the more significant new and widely applicable employment laws that will take effect in California on Jan. 1, 2022, unless otherwise stated.
Minimum Wage Increases
Effective Jan. 1, 2022, the California state minimum wage will increase to $15 per hour for employers with 26 or more employees, and it will increase to $14 per hour for employers with 25 or fewer employees. Some local cities and counties will have higher minimum wage requirements or will have minimum wage requirements that do not distinguish based on employer size.
At present, California has more than 35 cities and counties with their own minimum wage requirements including, but not limited to, Los Angeles, Menlo Park, Oakland, San Francisco and South San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego and Santa Clara. In light of the significant number of varying city and county requirements, employers should reevaluate any potentially applicable minimum wage requirements in the cities and counties where they have employees to ensure they do not run afoul of any minimum wage requirements slated to take effect in the new year.
AB 1561—Expanded and Revised ABC/Dynamex Independent Contractor Exemptions
AB 1561 addresses certain independent contractor exemptions originally enacted as part of AB 5, which adopted the ABC/Dynamex test as the standard for determining whether an individual was an employee or independent...
By Dean Aubrey Caratiquet As part of an intensified campaign against the spread of falsehoods that continue to undermine the integrity of the government and pose a threat to national security, PCO...