Posted on December 18th, 2017
Are you a Californian employer? Are you up to date with California employment laws?
It’s essential that you fully understand the state employment laws as a California business.
It can be serious business if not. In April 2017, two Californian employers received prison sentences for failing to adhere to workers compensation rules.
This case is just one among many, but the custodial sentence highlights how important the state considers employment law to be — and how severe the resultant penalties could be.
Here are 5 major California employment laws that you must bear in mind at all times.
If you are looking for a quick update on 2018 employment laws this article has you covered.
1. Workers Compensation Insurance Is Required
Workers compensation insurance is a requirement for all businesses operating in California.
The exact rules and regulations are devised by the Workers Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California. You should either have a read of the regulations yourself or develop a compliance strategy with the help of a lawyer.
Remember, it’s a criminal offense not to secure workers comp for your employees. Not only could your business suffer, you could find yourself personally liable.
This could even in a worse case scenario mean a few months in prison.
Obviously, it’s equally important to try your best to make sure you’ve provided a safe place to work. But accidents happen, and that’s what workers comp is supposed to protect against.
There are no excuses in the eyes of California employment laws for failing to provide this cover.
2. Fair Employment and Equality
Have you heard of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act?
This act sets out a number of ‘protected classes.’ These are attributes which you must not take into account when choosing who to employ.
These include race, color and religion, sex, age, or marital status. You must also not consider disability, illness, sexuality or nationality.
It is enforced by the Fair Employment and Housing Commission.
Meanwhile, the California Equal Pay Act says that you must not pay different wages to people of different sexes performing the same job.
Of course, you’re still free to reward more experienced members of your team with better salaries. But if a junior member of staff was getting paid more than, say, their manager, due to a difference in sex you may be in breach of this act.
3. New Parents and Parental Leave
If you have at least 20 employees, you’ll soon be subject to a new law surrounding parental leave. This is not currently in force but will be from 1st January 2018.
Under the new law, all companies with 20 employees or more must make allowances for new parents.
For employees to qualify for these allowances, they must have worked for at least 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months. That’s approximately 26 hours per week.
If that’s the case, you must allow them to take up to 12 weeks off to spend with their newborn child. This can be any time before the child’s first birthday.
You must allow them to return to their job afterward. If you don’t, you’re in breach of the act.
There are some exemptions from this new law. We’d be very happy to consult with you to inform your business practices in this area.
4. Overtime Pay
Do your employees work for more than 40 hours a week? If so, there are some mandatory overtime pay rules you need to know about. We’ve broken these out into the sections below.
Remember, the minimum wage in the state is $10 per hour if you have 25 employees or less, and $10.50 if you have 26 or more.
Employees who work for between 8 and 12 hours a day
If your employees have worked for more than 8 hours on a single day, you’ll have to pay them a rate of one and one-half their normal rate for all hours in excess of this.
This only applies if they’ve worked for a total of more than 40 hours that week. If you allow some leeway for time in lieu after your employees work late on one day that week, you’ll be OK.
For example, let’s say an employee is scheduled to work a 40 hour week, for 8 hours every day. If they ended up working for 12 hours on Monday, and you let them go home 4 hours early on Friday, they wouldn’t receive overtime for the ‘extra’ hours on Monday.
Employees who work seven days in a row
If an employee works for 7 days in a row, they’re entitled to one and one-half times their normal rate on the first 8 hours of the seventh day.
But again, this is only if they’ve worked for more than a 40 hour week.
Employees who work more than 12 hours in a day
If an employee has worked for more than 12 hours in a single day, they’re entitled to double wages for all hours beyond this.
Once again, this only applies if they’ve worked more than a 40 hour week already.
This means that the careful management of rotation and staffing can actually save you a lot of money.
5. Breaks for Meals and Rest
Your employees have entitlements to breaks for meals and rest.
If an employee has worked for at least 5 hours in a row, you must provide them an unpaid break of 30 minutes. During this time, you cannot force them to work, though if they carry on working regardless this isn’t an issue.
If they must carry on working while eating, you must pay them for that time. However, there’s good news too — you don’t need to provide the meal yourself.
If an employee is working more than 10 hours in a day, you must give them a second 30-minute break during their shift.
California Employment Laws Explained — Who to Consult
If you’re looking for legal advice on employing people in California, make Defend My Biz your first call.
We’re specialist employment lawyers who protect Californian employers against what we see as one-sided laws.
If you need advice or guidance on any aspect of California employment laws, we’re here for you.
We offer a free initial consultation session, and you can book your slot online right now.
We’re looking forward to helping your business.
