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A new year means new legislation for California businesses to prepare for. Below are a few noteworthy laws and regulations taking effect on January 1, 2024:
LABOR LAWS:
Employee Drug Use
As originally passed in 2022, starting January 1, 2024, AB 2188 (Quirk) makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a person in hiring, termination or other condition of employment, based on an employee’s use of cannabis off the job based on a drug screening test that has found non-psychoactive cannabis metabolites in their system.
Continuing in this vein, SB 700 (Bradford), passed in 2023, expands California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act to prohibit employers from requesting information from an applicant for hire about their prior cannabis use. It would also specify that an employer cannot use an applicant’s criminal history related to cannabis use for hiring, termination or any other term of employment.
These laws do not permit an employee to possess, to be impaired by, or to use cannabis on the job, or affect the rights or obligations of an employer to maintain a drug and alcohol free workplace.
Employee Safety
SB 553 (Cortese, 2023), effective July 1, 2024, requires employers to implement a Workplace Violence Prevention Plan (WVPP) that contains specific information and:
- Record information in a violent incident log for every workplace violence incident.
- Provide training to employees on WVPP.
- Provide additional training when a new or previously unrecognized workplace violence hazard has been identified and when changes are made to the plan.
- Require records of workplace violence hazard identification, evaluation, correction and training, violent incident logs and workplace incident investigation to be maintained, and certain records to be made available to the division, employees, and employee representatives.
Effective January 1, 2025, SB 553 also authorizes a collective bargaining representative to seek a temporary restraining order on behalf of an employee or employees who suffer unlawful violence, or a credible threat of violence carried out at the workplace. Previously, only employers were authorized to seek such an order.
Finally, SB 553 requires Cal/OSHA to adopt a general industry workplace violence regulation by December 31, 2026. To review the full KSC Update on SB 553, please click here.
Sick Leave Policy
California’s new paid sick leave law, SB 616 (Gonzalez, 2023) expands California’s existing paid sick leave requirements. As of January 1, 2024, an employee is entitled to five days or forty hours of paid sick leave. Previously, employees were entitled to three days or twenty-four hours. Employers may still allow employees to accrue paid sick leave at the rate of one hour for every thirty hours worked. Regardless of the accrual rate, employees must be able to accrue forty hours by their 200th day of employment. Additionally, employees must be able to accrue at least twenty-four hours of paid sick leave by their 120th day of employment. Alternatively, employers may “frontload” the entire amount of paid sick leave. Employers may limit an employee’s annual use of paid sick leave to forty hours. Employers may cap an employee’s paid sick leave accrual at eighty hours or ten days; previously, the accrual cap was forty-eight hours or six days. To review the full KSC Update on SB 616, please click here.
Also amending California’s employment policy, SB 848 (Rubio, 2023) allows an eligible employee to take up to five days of unpaid leave following a “reproductive loss event.” Employees experiencing a reproductive loss and wishing to take a leave must be employed by an employer with at least five employees for at least thirty days prior to the commencement of the leave. The law defines a “reproductive loss event” as the day or, for a multiple-day event, the final day of a failed adoption, failed surrogacy, miscarriage, stillbirth, or an unsuccessful assisted reproduction.
Minimum Wage
California’s minimum wage will increase to $16 per hour for all employers on January 1, 2024. Some cities and counties in California have a local minimum wage higher than the state rate.
ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS:
Advanced Clean Fleets
In April 2023, the Air Resources Board approved the Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) regulation, which requires medium and heavy-duty vehicles to transition to zero-emission by 2045. The regulation applies to fleets performing drayage operations, those owned by governmental agencies, and high priority fleets with vehicles greater than 8,500 pounds, off-road yard tractors, and light-duty mail and package delivery vehicles.
High priority fleets, entities that (1) own, operate or direct at least one vehicle in CA and have over $50 million in gross annual revenues or (2) own, operate, or have common ownership or control of 50 or more vehicles, must only purchase zero emission vehicle or near zero emission vehicles starting in 2024 and comply with the Model Year Schedule, removing internal combustion engine vehicles at the end of their useful life, as defined.[1] To review our KSC Update regarding Advanced Clean Fleets, please click here.
Plastic Packaging Reform
Following passage of SB 54 (Allen) in 2022, Cal Recycle has begun the rulemaking process to prohibit single-use plastic packaging and food ware and implement a statewide Extended Producer Responsibility program for producers of plastic packaging and materials. In 2024, Cal Recycle will have chosen the lead, so to speak, of the EPR program, known as the Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) and all producers of plastic materials will be obligated to join the PRO, unless pursuing an alternative compliance route. Cal Recycle is obligated to finalize the regulations for SB 54 by 2025.
If you have questions regarding any of these forthcoming laws, please reach out to Louie Brown at lbrown@kscsacramento.com or Ann Grottveit at agrottveit@kscsacramento.com.
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