Fresno, California – Like it, or not, California legislators were hard at work in 2017 to make employers lives, well, different, in 2018.
Datatech wanted to share four of these new laws that have the most impact on employers. They are the banning of employers from asking prospective employees about past criminal convictions; requiring employers to demand warrants and subpoenas from Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents; banning inquiries of prospective employees about current salaries and the expansion of the new-baby bonding leave for small employers.
The Farm Employers Labor Service has published one-sheets on these new mandates and we’ll link to them in this article. Here’s a brief rundown of what these new 2018 laws are about:
AB 1008 (McCarty, D-Sacramento) applies to any employer with five or more employees and prohibits an employer from including on any application any question that seeks the disclosure of the applicant’s
conviction history. This new prohibition will require removal of “boxes” or questions that ask applicants to disclose criminal convictions on written employment applications. AB 1008 also prohibits an employer from “inquiring into or considering” an applicant’s conviction history until a conditional employment offer has been made. AB 1008 also prohibits background checks that reveal criminal conviction history until after an employment offer is made.
AB 450 (Chiu, D-San Francisco) prohibits employers from voluntary permitting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) access to the work site without a judicial warrant, requires employers to provide their workers with notice of certain immigration enforcement actions, and imposes new statutory penalties for violations of these requirements.
AB 168 (Eggman, D-Stockton) prohibits an employer from seeking past salary information in the interview process or relying on the salary history of an applicant in deciding whether to offer employment or deciding compensation offered to an applicant. AB 168 makes it unlawful for an employer to seek salary history information about an applicant for employment. This prohibition applies to oral or written inquiries and to inquiries made through any agent of the employer. “Salary history information” includes compensation and benefits.
Senate Bill 63 (Jackson), the “New Parent Leave Act,” requires employers with 20 or more employees to provide up to 12 weeks of job-protected parental (baby-bonding) leave.
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