California’s Suitable Seating Law, codified in the state’s wage orders, requires employers to provide workers with the ability to sit when the job allows for it. The state, often at the forefront of employee rights, intended the legislation to make the work experience more comfortable for workers.
In short, the law says that “if it’s feasible and practical to provide seating, you must,” said Joseph Beachboard, an attorney with Beachboard Consulting Group in Torrance, Calif. At present, “a lot of people have kind of figured it out” in the affected industries.
However, litigation was far more common in the years following the statute’s implementation in 2001. According to Jennifer Shaw, an attorney with Shaw Law Group in Sacramento, Calif., employers incorrectly assumed they held the deciding vote of whether an employee could sit down or not. Employers also thought employees had to have a disability to qualify for the seating provision.
Most of the resistance to the suitable seating requirement came not from manufacturers, where people might be sitting in a factory setting, but from customer-facing industries. Early in the debate, grocery stores, retail establishments, banks, and restaurants were among the most vociferous opponents.
“It really has to do with our historical perspective and belief that when someone is standing, they are better able to interact with a customer,” Beachboard said. “Most commonly, it doesn’t have anything to do with the...
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