This past year, Governor Newsom signed new bills impacting leave rights and protections for California employees. The following summarizes the new leave-related employment laws that California employers should be aware of.
AB 406 (Workplace Protections for Victims of Violence):
AB 406 expands upon AB 2499 (Schiavo, Chapter 967, Statutes of 2024), which provides leave for victims of qualifying acts of violence for specified reasons and requires employers to provide accommodations to victims of qualifying actions of violence (as reported in our previous Alert). Specifically, effective January 1, 2026, AB 406 adds Government Code section 12945.8(a)(4), which prohibits employers from discriminating or retaliating against an employee who is a victim or is a family member of a victim for taking time off work to attend any judicial proceedings related to that crime, including, any delinquency proceedings, a post-arrest release decision, plea, sentencing, postconviction release decision, or any proceeding where a right of that victim is an issue. For this section only, AB 406 creates a new definition of “victim” which includes being subjected to one of 14 different crimes enumerated by Government Code section 12945.8(j)(8)(c), including violent felonies and serious felonies as defined in the California Penal Code.
AB 406 also expands Labor Code section 246.5, part of the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act (“Act”). The Act grants paid sick leave to California employees who...
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