Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives

Starting January 1, 2024, eligible California employees are entitled to protected leave following a reproductive loss.  This law, California Senate Bill 848, codified at California Government Code section 12945.6, builds on California’s 2023 bereavement leave law, which provided five days of unpaid bereavement leave to eligible employees following the death of a covered family member.

On April 14, 2023, the California Civil Rights Department (“CRD”), formerly known as the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, announced that it will now accept “enforcement deferral requests” from employers currently obligated to provide a “Labor Contractor Employee Report” by the upcoming May 10, 2023 deadline. 

On March 31, 2023, Los Angeles County’s COVID-19 emergency proclamation and orders that have been in place since March 2020, will officially end.  The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors made this unanimous decision on February 28, 2023, in light of the recent progress in the COVID-19 pandemic.  The official end of Los Angeles County’s COVID-19 emergency will directly impact the status of employee COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave and Paid Vaccine Leave, both of which expire on April 14, 2023.

On September 27, 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1162, which amends California Labor Code section 432.3, expanding employers’ pay disclosure and record keeping requirements in California.  

On June 8, 2022, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued an Order with definitions for “close contact” and “infectious period” that conflict and abrogate the definitions for these terms within the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health’s (Cal/OSHA) current COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS).  Employers must comply with the new CDPH definitions, even where they differ from the text of the California ETS or federal Centers for Disease Control guidance.

On May 7, 2022, the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (“Cal/OSHA”) released guidance, in the form of updated FAQs and fact sheets, concerning the revised COVID-19 Prevention Emergency Temporary Standards (“ETS”) that were adopted on April 21, 2022, and became effective on May 6, 2022.  This ETS applies to non-remote workers in California, except those who work alone and those covered by the Aerosol Transmissible Diseases standard, and will remain in effect until December 31, 2022. 

Cal/OSHA’s recently issued guidance provides additional ...

On December 16, 2021, the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (“Cal/OSHA”) adopted revisions to the current COVID-19 Prevention Emergency Temporary Standards (“ETS”).  The Cal/OSHA ETS were first approved on November 30, 2020, adopted again with modifications on June 17, 2021, and recently readopted with additional revisions.  The newest version of the ETS will go into effect on January 14, 2022, and will apply to all non-remote workers in California except those covered by the Aerosol Transmissible Diseases standard, such as healthcare workers.

Governor Gavin Newsom and the California Department of Public Health (“CDPH”) recently issued new public health requirements in response to the increasing number of hospitalizations and ICU patients in California caused by the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant.