Last month I discussed SB 399 Employer “Captive Audience” Meetings one of the new labor laws that affect California employers beginning in 2025. This month I will discuss 4 additional laws that affect employers, captive audience meanings, new language regarding discrimination and harassment, revisions to the CROWN Act and revisions with respect to Paid Family Leave.
SB 399, the “California Worker Freedom from Employer Intimidation Act,” will bar employers from engaging in or threatening to:
- discharge
- discriminate
- retaliate against or
- take “any other adverse action against any employee who declines to attend an “employer-sponsored meeting” or declines to “participate in, receive, or listen” to any employer communications regarding “religious, political or union matters.”
What Should California Employers Do? 5 Steps to Comply with New Captive Audience Law
- Consult with local legal counsel for guidance in this evolving area of the law and to tailor an appropriate compliance strategy for your organization, particularly when employers and/or front-line supervisors desire to hold meetings on religious or political matters.
- Train your front-line supervisors on the parameters of captive audience laws.
- Update employee handbooks and policies to underscore the voluntary nature of meetings regarding religious or political matters (including the topic of union organizing).
- Communicate to employees the purpose of any such meetings and emphasize the voluntary nature of them.
- Consider ways to memorialize the voluntary nature of any potential meetings which could fall under the “captive audience” definition. SB 1137
Combined Characteristics Discrimination
SB 1137 amends the Fair Employment and Housing Act, 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:
- any combination of protected characteristics;
- a perception that a person has a characteristic or characteristics within protected categories or a combination of those characteristics; and
- 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 1815 Revisions to CROWN Act
AB 1815 amends the definition of “race” in the anti-discrimination provisions 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.
As always, Jorgensen HR is available to assist employers with compliance with respect to federal, state, and municipal labor laws. Please contact us with questions about these 4 new laws. If you were not able to attend our 2025 Labor Law Update in December, please let us know and we can send you a copy of the Zoom webinar. For more information please contact JorgensenHR at 661-600-2070 or info@jorgensenhr.com.
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