Sacramento Strikes Back – New Employment Laws for 2025

10.01.2024

Governor Gavin Newsom signed numerous employment law-related bills heading into the last weekend of September. Below are summaries of the most significant laws that will impact California employers starting on January 1, 2025.

SB 399 (Captive Audience Meetings): SB 399 creates Labor Code Section 1137, which makes it unlawful for employers to require employees to attend mandatory meetings involving religious or political matters, with certain limited exceptions. Under this new law, discipline or discharge for failure to attend such meetings is unlawful. “Political matters” are defined to include the decision to join or support a political or labor organization. Employers face penalties of up to $500 per employee per violation. The statute may be enforced either by the Labor Commissioner or through civil lawsuits. The statutory language broadly defines “employees” protected by the statute to be anyone “under the control and direction of an employer for wages or other remuneration.” Among other exceptions, the statute does not prohibit employers from communicating with employees about subject matter legally required or necessary to perform duties. The statute does not apply to mission-specific situations involving religious institutions exempt from certain employment laws, political organizations, educational institutions, tax-exempt training programs, employers training employees to comply with legal obligations, or certain employers holding workplace orientations.

This statute will likely invite litigation to clarify how it balances with the free speech and labor law rights of employers. This statute reflects a national trend with a growing number of states putting such laws and restrictions into effect.

SB 988 (Freelancers): Effective January 1, 2025, the Freelance Worker Protection Act introduces new requirements for contracts between a hiring party and a freelance worker who provides any of the services listed in California Labor Code Section 2778(b)(2). A “freelance worker” is defined as: (1) a person or organization composed of no more than one person, whether or not incorporated or employing a trade name, (2) that is hired or retained as a bona fide independent contractor by the hiring party to provide professional services in exchange for an amount equal to or greater than $250.

Starting in January, an agreement between a hiring party and a freelancer must be in writing and include the following: (a) Names and addresses of both parties, (b) An itemized list of services, their value, and the compensation method, (c) Payment due dates or mechanisms for determining them, and (d) Due dates for the freelancer to report completed services. Once a freelancer has started providing services, the hiring entity cannot require the freelancer to accept less compensation or provide more services than agreed in order to receive timely payment.

SB 1100 (Driver’s License Discrimination): SB 1100 adds to the Fair Employment and Housing Act, a new provision that makes unlawful for an employer to include a statement in a job advertisement, posting, application, or other material, that an applicant must have a driver’s license, unless: (1) the employer reasonably expects driving to be one of the job functions for the position; and (2) the employer also reasonably believes that satisfying the job function using an alternative form of transportation (e.g., carpooling or walking) would not be comparable in travel time or cost to the employer.

SB 1105 (Sick Leave Expansion for Agricultural Employees): SB 1105 expands existing paid sick leave provisions to allow agricultural employees to use paid sick leave when they: (i) work outside and (ii) request sick leave to avoid smoke, heat, or flooding conditions created by a local or state emergency, including for preventive care due to their work or such conditions. SB 1105 defines “agricultural employee” as a person employed Wage Orders 8, 13 and 14.

SB 1340 (Local Enforcement of Anti-Discrimination Laws): This bill extends existing law allowing local governments to enforce state anti-discrimination laws upon receipt of an employee’s right-to-sue notice from the Civil Rights Department (“CRD”). The new law permits local governments to enforce state anti-discrimination laws, as well as local anti-discrimination laws, which may be more strict than state (or federal) anti-discrimination laws. In addition, the law tolls the one-year statute of limitations for filing a complaint in superior court, as long as the local entity enforcement proceedings continue.

SB 1137 (Combined Characteristics Discrimination): SB 1137 will amend the Fair Employment and Housing Act (Government Code Sections 12920 and 12926), among other laws, relating to discrimination, by blending protected categories into a new form of intersectional protection. In particular, the new language provides that protected categories include: (A) any combination of protected characteristics; (B) a perception that a person has a characteristic or characteristics within protected categories or a combination of those characteristics; and (C) a perception that a person is associated with a person who has or is perceived to have a protected characteristic or combination of protected characteristics.

AB 1034 (Extension of PAGA Exemption for Certain Collective Bargaining Agreements): AB 1034 extends an existing exemption from the Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) available to contractors that are signed to a Collective Bargaining Agreement (“CBA”) until January 1, 2038. AB 1034 specifically provides an exemption from PAGA for unionized employees in the construction industry. However, in order to qualify for the exemption, the CBA must:

Explicitly cover wages, hours of work, and working conditions.
Provide premium wage rates for all overtime hours worked.
Ensure employees receive a regular hourly pay rate of at least 30% more than the state minimum wage.
Contain a grievance and binding arbitration procedure to address labor code violations.

The law defines an employee in the construction industry as an “employee performing work associated with construction, including work involving alteration, demolition, building, excavation, renovation, remodeling, maintenance, improvement, repair work, and other work.”

AB 1815 (Revisions to CROWN Act): This bill amends the definition of “race” in the anti-discrimination provisions of the California Government Code as well as the definition of “protective hairstyles.” Under the amendment, race is defined as “inclusive of traits associated with race, including but not limited to hair texture and protective hairstyles.” “Protective hairstyles” is revised to “include but are not limited to such hairstyles as braids, locs, and twists.” The word “historically” was removed from the definition of protective hairstyles because it was found to be vague and confusing.

AB 2123 (Revisions to Paid Family Leave Administration): AB 2123 eliminates an employer’s ability to require employees to use accrued vacation leave before accessing California’s Paid Family Leave Program (PFL). PFL is a state-run program providing benefits to individuals taking time off to care for a seriously ill child, spouse, parent, or domestic partner, bond with a new minor child, or assist military family members under active duty. Previously, employers could require employees to take up to two weeks of accrued vacation before employees could access PFL benefits.

AB 2499 (Expansion of Crime Victim Leave): This bill expands the list of crimes for which employees can take time off under California’s Crime Victim leave law and allows employees to take leave to assist family members who are victims of crimes. The new law also amends the paid sick leave law to allow use of sick leave for these purposes. Under the revised law, employers will be required to provide written notice of rights established under this bill to new hires, to all employees annually, at any time upon request, and any time the employer becomes newly aware that an employee or an employee’s family member is a victim.

AB 3234 (Social Compliance Audits): AB 3234 requires an employer who has voluntarily subjected itself to a “social compliance audit,” whether the audit is conducted in part, or in whole, to determine if child labor is involved in the employer’s operations or practices, to post a clear and conspicuous link on its internet website to a report detailing the findings of its compliance with child labor laws. This new law defines the term “social compliance audit” to mean a voluntary, non-governmental inspection or assessment of an employer’s operations or practices to evaluate whether the operations or practices comply with state and federal labor laws, including wage and hour, and health and safety regulations, and including those regarding child labor. AB 3234 requires that the report include, among other things: (1) whether the employer did or did not engage in, or support the use of, child labor; (2) copies of any written policies and procedures the employer has and had regarding minor employees; (3) and whether the employer exposed children to any workplace situations that were hazardous or unsafe to their physical and mental health and development.

The Governor vetoed SB 1022, which would have extended the statute of limitations for group discrimination complaints to seven years, and SB 1047, addressing artificial intelligence. AB 2751, also known as the “right to disconnect” law, failed to be passed by the Legislature.

Employers with questions about any of the above legislation may contact one of the authors or their usual counsel at AALRR.