Sweeping new laws ramping up in 2021 will force California businesses to offer employees more help to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, including measures on disclosure of workplace infections, on healthcare and wage replacement, and on job-protected leave to care for sick family members.
For state lawmakers, 2020 “was a year that started out with lots of aspirational plans,” said Ken Jacobs, chair of the UC Berkeley Labor Center. “But it became a year about saving lives.”
What with legislators’ personal COVID-19 scares and Capitol shutdowns, “leadership basically asked us to kill any bill that wasn’t COVID-related,” said Heath Flora (R-Ripon) vice chair of the Assembly’s Labor and Employment Committee.
Labor & Employment New Year Round-Up: What to Expect in 2021
USA
December 22 2020
Several new pieces of California legislation have either recently gone into effect or will take effect on January 1, 2021, impacting nearly all employers and how they handle COVID-19 related issues, leaves of absence, worker’s classification, discrimination disputes, arbitration agreements, union relations, and other miscellaneous issues.
Our round-up will help you determine which key issues may impact you in 2021; contact us to be sure you’re ready for all these upcoming changes.
New COVID-19 Reporting Obligations
Governor Newsom added to California’s growing list of COVID-19 health and safety related laws by signing AB 685, imposing additional reporting obligations on employers and expanding the California Division of Occupational Health and Safety’s (Cal/OSHA) authority to issue shutdown orders for workplaces that pose a risk of an “imminent hazard” relating to COVID-19.