While employers continued to grapple with the effects of COVID-19 on their businesses, last year's California legislative actions led to relatively fewer employment law changes than usual for the upcoming 2022 year. Below find descriptions of new employment-related changes, including new rules for severance agreements, expanded limitations on confidentiality and nondisparagement provisions in settlement agreements, extended recordkeeping requirements, changes to the California Family Rights Act, arbitration, COVID-19 compliance, wage and hour, and industry-specific developments.
Equal Employment
New Rules for Settlement and Nondisparagement Agreements (SB 331)
Current law prohibits settlement agreements from preventing disclosure of factual information relating to a civil claim or administrative action involving sexual assault, sexual harassment, workplace harassment or sex discrimination, failure to prevent such acts, or retaliation for reporting such acts. SB 331 expands this law by also applying it to claims involving all forms of unlawful workplace harassment or discrimination (not based on sex). SB 331 does not prohibit provisions that preclude disclosure of the amount paid in settlement of such claims.
Employers offering any agreement related to the employee's separation of employment (e.g., separation and severance agreements) must notify the employee of the right to consult an attorney regarding the agreement and provide a "reasonable time period of not less...
Community Notes, which allows users to contribute notes that add context or corrections to posts, was introduced by X in late 2022 and the same model is increasingly being adopted by other tech pl...