As an employee or contractor in California, it’s crucial that you understand the laws that offer protection from discrimination, wages, and unlawful terminations or demotions. With a new presidency coming up in January and the addition of several new California employment laws, what should employees be prepared for? We’ll cover what protections are being added and what may change on a federal level that will impact Californian workers.

New California Employment Laws for 2025

Starting in 2025, workers gain several additional protections thanks to the following laws.

AB 2123: Changes to Paid Family Leave

Before AB 2123, employees had to use up all of their vacation days prior to claiming paid family leave (PFL). This bill changes that and allows workers to take up to two weeks of PFL to care for a family member or bond with a newborn or newly adopted child without first using up all vacation time. The law goes into effect on January 1st.

AB 2299: Create and Post a List of Employee’s Rights and Responsibilities Regarding Whistleblowing

Starting January 1st, all employers must print out an employee’s rights and responsibilities regarding whistleblowing. This notice must be placed in clearly visible areas in a font that’s at least 14 points. The poster or posting must include the whistleblower hotline’s number on it.

AB 2499: Time Off for Qualifying Victims of Violence

Qualifying victims of violent crimes like domestic violence, rape/sexual assault, and stalking gain additional protections under AB 2499. It’s expanding to prevent retaliation or discrimination for anyone taking time off for jury duty, a court order, or emotional and physical recovery from a crime. It also includes a guarantee of reasonable accommodations at work and access to paid time off. Employers must share written notice of the changes to the law, which goes into effect on January 1st.

AB 3234: Social Audit Reporting Requirements

When social compliance audits are used to determine if child labor is used by an employer, the employer must post a link to the report on its website. The link must be easy to find and access. 

SB 399: No Work Meetings or Talks Regarding Politics or Religion

If an employer is having a meeting that will engage in any political or religious theme, employees cannot be required to attend. They must attend of their own volition. If they do not attend, the employer cannot terminate their job, retaliate, or discriminate against them.

SB 988: Additional Protections for Independent Contractors

This is important to keep in mind as there is a chance the federal government will soon make it easier for a company to designate workers as independent contractors. With California’s Freelance Worker Protection Act, anyone working as an independent contractor and paid more than $250 gains the following protections.

• Contracts must be retained for at least four years and be in writing.
• Freelance workers and their employment lawyers can take action for any violations, and damages can include penalties and legal fees.
• Freelance workers are allowed to assert their rights and not face discrimination, retaliation, or termination.
• Payment must be made within 30 days if there’s no designated payment date.

SB 1100: Addition of Driver’s License Discrimination

Employers cannot require workers to provide a valid driver’s license to get or keep a job. The only exception is if a worker’s job entails driving a vehicle for the company.

SB 1137: Protection for Intersectionality

Until January 1st, discrimination claims focused on one area of discrimination. If an older Muslim woman was discriminated against at work, she had to choose religious discrimination, gender discrimination, or age discrimination. This new law allows for multiple discriminatory acts, which in that example could be gender, religion, and age combined.

SB 1340: Localized Discrimination Enforcement

The final employment law that’s expected to go into effect on January 1st is one that allows a local, city, or county enforcement agency to enforce discrimination laws. Instead of waiting for a state agency to investigate a discrimination complaint, a local agency could jump in and handle the investigation once a right-to-sue notice is issued.

How a New President May Impact Employment Laws

While many campaign trail promises never come to light, it’s important to keep them in mind. Many California employment laws already offer some protection, but it’s still important to know how some of these promises could affect your current job or future employment.

Changing OSHA Protections

This summer was hot. One aspect that changed for many manufacturing, construction, and outdoor workers was the heat safety rule that allowed workers who were overheating the chance to go somewhere cooler to avoid heat exhaustion. House Republicans wanted to cut $75 million from OSHA’s budget in the summer of 2024, and it’s suspected that the heat safety measurement will be scrapped or scaled back.

California has a heat illness prevention guide in place that applies to any workplace where the indoor temperature exceeds 82 degrees. The measure was approved in June 2024 and went into effect in July.

Eliminating Income Tax on Tips and Overtime Pay

One of the president-elect’s proposals is to no longer tax overtime pay or tips. The idea is to use money from increased tariffs to cover the loss of tax revenues.  

If this overtime and tips do become exempt, employers would need to make sure any overtime or tips are not included in payroll and income taxes. Employees would need to carefully check pay stubs to ensure pay is taxed correctly.

Reforming Immigration and Deporting Illegal Immigrants

One of his biggest platforms has been deporting all illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants often get employee identification numbers (EINs) to pay federal and state wage taxes. If all immigrants were deported, that would create a loss of $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes according to the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy’s 2022 statistics.

In addition, many of those workers are in low-paying jobs that don’t pay a livable wage. As farms, orchards, trucking companies, and other agricultural industries lose a large portion of their workforce, it may create shortages in the workforce that lessen availability and drive up prices. Remaining workers may face mandatory overtime, and California overtime rules protect workers against continual overtime.

Making It Easier for Companies to Classify Workers as Independent Contractors and Allow Non-Competes.

One change that happened recently was that protections were placed for independent contractors who are treated like employees but not extended employee benefits like overtime pay, healthcare, etc. It also made it harder for companies to require employees to sign non-compete agreements, something that California law protects against.

Stopping the Regulation of AI.

Under President Biden, protections were put in place to protect the public against the use of AI in scams, misinformation, and theft of data. The president-elect wants to remove those safeguards and make it easier for AI startups by removing restrictive regulations.

California legislators worked on AB 2930 to create a system that would protect against bias and discrimination when AI is used to screen applicants. As of August 2024, the bill stalled and was ordered inactive by Senator Umberg, so protections were in the works but not signed into law.

As we head into a new year, keep these new employment laws and potential changes in mind. If you do feel your employer isn’t following California labor laws, reach out to Shegerian Conniff for advice on what to do next.