The 2017 California legislative session ended with Governor Jerry Brown signing into law a number of bills affecting California employers:
The laws about what employers can ask job applicants continue to evolve. Here are two new areas of inquiry that are now not allowed:
AB 168 bars employers from asking job applicants about their previous salary. The legislation’s goal is to narrow the gender gap by preventing employers from basing offers on prior salary and thus, presumably, perpetuating historical discrimination. This will also remove the perceived gap in negotiating power between an employers and employees who must disclose their prior salary.
AB 1008 precludes employers from inquiring about an applicant’s conviction history until after a conditional offer of employment; and Imposes new limitations upon and disclosure requirements for considering conviction history information.
Employers who wish to rely on criminal conviction information to withdraw a conditional job offer must notify the applicant of their preliminary decision, give them a copy of the report (if any), explain the applicant’s right to respond, give them at least five business days to do so, and then wait five more business days to decide what to do when an applicant contests the decision. There are exceptions for employers who operate health facilities hiring employees who will have regular access to patients or drugs.
And there are new requirements for leave, pay and other protection for workers.
SB 3 increases California’s minimum wage to $11 in January 2018 and to $15 by 2022.
SB 63 requires employers with between 20 to 49 employees to provide up to 12 workweeks of “parental leave.”
AB 450 prohibits employers from allowing federal immigration agencies access to worksites unless certain conditions are met.
SB 396 requires that the currently mandated sexual harassment training for supervisors be expanded to include gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation.
AB 46 – Public Employers Subject to Equal Pay Act Violations.
AB 1710 – Hostile work Environment Protections for Military Service Members.