Employment Posters Have Changed for California Employers

It’s going to be a little more crowded on workplace bulletin boards across California this year. Last year, California’s legislature passed, and Governor Jerry Brown signed into law, over a dozen new laws affecting employers in the Golden State. A number of the new laws require changes to workplace posters and notices.

So California employers at the start of this year will continue to face the task of understanding and complying with federal workplace posting rules, and the large number of state employment law requirements which California already had that added to or differed from those in federal workplace requirements. But now, in addition, they will also have to cope with the state’s latest additions to California labor law posters. Most of the posting changes took effect January 1. Here’s a quick summary.

California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) already requires employers in the state to notify workers of employers’ duties not to discriminate or harass on numerous grounds, including sex. Because of a recent enactment, employers must update this notice to note that sex-based discrimination in employment now includes discrimination due to breastfeeding and associated medical conditions. (Employers’ accommodation of nursing mothers in their workforce was also dealt with by a section of the Obama’s administration’s health care reform law; the US Department of Labor is responsible for setting rules and interpretations in the area.)

California’s anti-bias law was also amended to specify that employers’ duty not to discriminate on the basis of religious observances and beliefs, and to make reasonable accommodation, extends to religious-based apparel and grooming. It now explicitly forbids separating employees from co-workers or members of the public as a reasonable accommodation.

Another new workplace posting mandate taking effect this year in California calls for retailers and manufacturers doing $100 million or more in the state to post notices giving information about requires the notice must be printed in English, Spanish and any third language most widely spoken in that county, and conspicuously displayed where it can be seen both by employees and the public. California’s Department of Justice is developing a model notice, which will have to be posted by April 1.

California’s minimum wage remains unchanged at $8.00, but employers operating in San Francisco saw the city’s minimum wage rise to $10.55 at the start of this year, which must be displayed on the mandatory workplace posting. San Francisco also requires employers to post notices on its law requiring paid sick leave for all workers in the city, including part-time and temporary workers, as well as a notice on the minimum amount employers there are required to spend on workers’ health care.

California employers must also continue to post notices on two Family Rights Act provisions, as well as notices on state workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, workers’ right to access medical records and exposure records, whistleblower protections, Cal-OSHA health and safety provisions (including no-smoking rules), emergency contact information, payday notices, and the availability of time off work to vote in elections.