California Compliance: Top 10 Q&A’s
During our September 15th webinar, Navigating California Compliance, we received a lot of great questions. The most popular and need-to-know questions and their answers are below.
*The information on this page is not legally binding advice. If you have questions, please seek advice of counsel.
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A California employer has independent contractors in states outside of California. Are the independent contractors under the rules for their state or California?
Generally, the law applies to the employee where they live and perform work. This is same with benefits usually, as well.
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Regarding the Naranjo case, did Spectrum have a work through policy in place? Also, how does this relate to the Brinker decision?
Naranjo was still able to file a lawsuit because the written work through policy only covered some of the years in the statute of limitations, and for other years there was no written policy. The work through policy does not need to be written each time, it can cover a length of time, but you need to document each penalty hour paid to the employee. It is a one hour penalty, so you pay one hour of time. And yes, Brinker is still good law, a company needs to enforce meal and rest breaks.
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Does the $25/hr pertain to Home Care in Los Angeles? And is it just the City of Los Angeles or all of Los Angeles County?
The LA home health care worker ordinance applies only to covered entities in the boundaries of the city of LA. There are 7 specific types of facilities that are covered under that ordinance, and it does not appear that home care is covered, but it could be if it’s a benefit provided by one of the covered facilities. The link is here: https://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2022/22-1100-S4_ord_187566_08-14-2022.pdf
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Does the CA COVID-19 sick leave (SB114) apply to part-time and full-time employees? If so, how is it calculated?
Yes, the COVID sick leave applies to both full time and part time employees and the law contains a formula for how to calculate what is paid to each, depending on hours worked and length of employment. COVID pay is spelled out in SB 114, there are specific formulas to determine how much to pay a part time versus a full time employee.
The law is here: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB114 -
Is the Pulic Health emergency leave separate from FMLA?
Yes, these are separate instances of leave.
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Do you have to report COVID leave on OSHA 300 form?
OSHA 300 form instructions can be found here: https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/dosh_publications/reckeepoverview.pdf
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If the employer requires the employee to quarantine due to COVID-like symptoms, should we pay the employee from Batch #1?
Yes, I would recommend the first batch for quarantine related benefits, since the employee is pending testing.
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Is there any talk of extending the paid COVID sick leave in CA?
There is a bill to extend COVID sick leave workers compensation benefits until January 1, 2025: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1751&search_keywords=covid+sick+leave. However, I (Joy Rosenquist, the speaker from this webinar) am not aware of a pending bill to extend paid sick leave benefits.
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Is there a minimum employment of 30 days to be eligible for COVID-19 sick pay in California?
Paying new hires under SB 114 is required, but it’s prorated quite a bit so a new hire won’t get much of a benefit.
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City of West Hollywood in CA has enacted a minimum wage and leave (compensated & uncompensated leave) ordinance eff 7.1.2022. It provides that employers are subject to both state and West Hollywood’s leave provision laws. Does this mean that employers have to provide 96 compensated hours under the WeHo ordinance and also provide 24 hrs of CA sick pay?
A company located in WeHo must abide by both CA leave laws and WeHo’s leave laws.
About the Webinar: Navigating California Compliance
In July, we hosted the webinar “July is the New January.” Due to the high-volume of new California policies and Californian attendance, we have curated a presentation specifically for organizations with a presence in California. As you may know, California often leads the charge with new employment law policies that are later adopted by many other states. Last month, California announced a variety of new policies, which makes now the perfect time to look ahead at the changes that may affect your organization.
While some of these updates have been long anticipated, others are breaking news and may have a serious impact on your organization. We will present an overview of the new laws you need to know about in the second half of 2022 for California compliance.
Additionally, Michael Worth, Vice President of Sales at ComplianceHR, will walk you through PolicySmart™. Simplify the complexity of employment law and make your compliance strategy proactive instead of reactive with this solution.
About ComplianceHR
ComplianceHR offers the only on-demand, intelligent suite of compliance applications. We are focused on helping companies address the ever-changing federal and state employment law requirements on minimum wage, overtime, independent contracting, and more.
We provide employers of all industries, sizes, and locations with solutions that empower employers to handle complex compliance issues with less time, cost, and complexity than traditional methods. The Navigator Suite simplifies employment law compliance, allowing you to streamline your compliance workflow in only a few simple clicks.
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