New California Employment Laws for 2025, by Christine Starkie, Esq. and Nima Masjedi zadeh, Esq., 12-9-2024

California employers should start preparing for a host of new laws taking effect Jan. 1, 2025. This comes on the heels of an already busy year with 2024 having brought a flurry of legislation including new workplace violence prevention laws and Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) reform.

Among pending laws taking effect in the New Year are:

Paid Family Leave

Assembly Bill 2123 removes the provision that requires employees to use two weeks of accrued vacation before accessing paid family leave (PFL) insurance benefits. Existing law authorizes an employer to require an employee to take up to 2 weeks of earned but unused vacation before, and as a condition of, the employee’s initial receipt of these benefits during any 12-month period in which the employee is eligible for these benefits. This bill would make that authorization and related provisions inapplicable to any disability commencing on or after January 1, 2025.

Whistleblower Posting

By January 1, 2025, Assembly Bill 2299 requires the Labor Commissioner to develop a model list of employees’ rights and responsibilities under existing whistleblower laws. Existing law prohibits employers from making, adopting, or enforcing a policy that prevents an employee from disclosing violations of a state or federal statute, or a violation or noncompliance with a local, state, or federal regulation to, among others, a government or law enforcement agency, or from retaliating against an employee who makes a disclosure. Additionally, existing law requires an employer to prominently display a list of employees’ rights and responsibilities under the whistleblower laws, as prescribed.

According to the legislation, an employer that posts the model list developed by the Labor Commissioner shall be deemed in compliance with the requirement to prominently display the list of employees’ rights and responsibilities under the whistleblower laws.

Driver’s License Discrimination

Effective January 1, 2025, Senate Bill 1100 would make it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to include a statement in a job advertisement, posting, applications or other materials that an applicant must have a driver’s license unless both of the following conditions are satisfied:

• The employer reasonably expects driving to be one of the job functions for the position.
• The employer reasonably believes that satisfying the job function using an alternative form of transportation (ie. ride hailing service, taxi, carpooling) would not be comparable in travel time or cost to the employer.

With the pending new laws slated to take effect in the New Year, employers should consider reviewing their handbooks, policies, job postings, applications, and any other applicable materials and make any necessary adjustments to ensure they are in compliance with the new laws. Kaufman Dolowich will continue to monitor developments.

Authors: Of Counsel Christine Starkie and Associate Nima Masjedi zadeh