On September 30, 2018, California Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation that makes changes to California law. While some of the laws will become effective in the coming years, we have outlined key details to the bills the Governor signed below.
Employers can now conduct background checks for employees with certain exceptions. An employer, regardless of being private or public, cannot seek information regarding an applicant’s arrest or detention that did not result in conviction or occurred while the applicant was subject to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court. An employer also cannot seek information concerning a referral to, and participation in, any pretrial or post trial diversion program, or concerning a conviction that has been judicially dismissed or ordered sealed pursuant to law.
However, under the new law, an employer may conduct a background check under specific circumstances where:
This new law clarifies what it means to make reasonable efforts to provide the employee with the use of a room or other location, other than a bathroom, in close proximity to the employee’s work area, for the employee to breastfeed privately.
An employer is deemed to have complied with the law if it makes a temporary lactation location available to an employee, as long as:
If the employer can demonstrate to the Department of Industrial Relations that this requirement would impose an undue hardship, the new law requires the employer to make reasonable efforts to provide a room or location for expressing milk that is not a toilet stall.
The new law requires employers with five or more employees, including temporary or seasonable employees, to provide at least 2 hours of sexual harassment training to all supervisors and at least one hour of sexual harassment training to all nonsupervisory employees by January 1, 2020, and one every 2 years thereafter.
Thank you for choosing Paylocity as your Payroll Tax partner. Should you have any questions please contact your Paylocity Account Manager.
This information is provided as a courtesy, may change and is not intended as legal or tax guidance. Employers with questions or concerns outside the scope of a Payroll Service Provider are encouraged to seek the advice of a qualified CPA, Tax Attorney or Advisor.