New CA Employment Laws For 2016

Attorneys from Arnold & Porter survey what’s new in California state employment legislation for 2016. For employers, they write, “it could have been worse,” even though the trend of workplace regulation favoring employees and unions continues. One new law covers piece-rate compensation requirements for “non-productive time.” That would refer, for example, to rest and recovery time for agriculture workers who are paid according to how much they harvest and auto repair workers paid by service performed. Other new laws address pay equity for women, rights of immigrant workers, prohibitions on the use of E-Verify, information on wage statements, retaliation protection for family members of whistleblowers, the classification of cheerleaders for professional sports teams (as employees and not contractors), rules regarding hiring of grocery store workers by a successor employer, and an increase in the minimum wage.