Stephen Koppekin Founder and President of Koppekin Consulting shares and alert for California employers and workers about new laws that may effect them.

1. Alert California Employers!
Stephen M. Koppekin: Founder & President,
Koppekin Consulting, Inc.
NEW STATE LAWS AND THEIR IMPACT

2. 2019 brings many important changes that affect the
workplace with some new state laws. These new laws will
provide added protections for workers but create new
liabilities for employers. The laws give more benefits to the
workers but increase employers’ legal exposure, and they
have faced some push back from employers that would be
affected. Workers and employers alike can explore some of
the following major changes:

3. Minimum Wage
In 2016, a law went into effect that
aimed to raise the minimum wage in
California to $15 an hour by 2023. On
the first of this year, the latest phase of
this law came into play, raising the
minimum from $11 to $12 for employers
with more than 25 workers and $10.50
to $11 for those employers less than 25
workers.

4. SEXUAL HARASSMENT
IN THE PAST, SOME EMPLOYERS REQUIRED
EMPLOYEES WHO REPORTED SEXUAL HARASSMENT
ON THE JOB TO SIGN NDAS (NON-DISCLOSURE
AGREEMENTS) BEFORE POTENTIAL SETTLEMENTS
COULD BE REACHED. AS OF 2019, SENATE BILL 820
PROHIBITS COMPANIES FROM DOING SO MOVING
FORWARD; HOWEVER, THE VICTIM WILL BE ALLOWED
TO STAY ANONYMOUS IF THEY PREFER THAT THEIR
IDENTITY REMAIN UNDISCLOSED.

5. Injured Workers
Bill 2334 will be put into place to allow Cal/OSHA
to extend the time period in which they can issue
citations to employers who fail to report injuries or
deaths from six months to five years. This covers
long-term injuries or health hazards that don’t
expose themselves in the initial six month period,
such as smoke-related hazards. This means it is
essential for companies to keep accurate records
for the five year period in case Cal/OHSA needs
to inspect or verify them.

6. TRUCKERS
A new law requires the California labor commissioner to create a
list of the trucking companies that still fail in complying with
unpaid wages and worker compensation liability. The second part
of this law also brings the retailers and manufacturers that hire
these trucking companies into the claims against the trucking
companies. This means these trucking companies will start to see
some retailers and manufacturers drop their services to avoid the
liability forced on them.

7. Nursing Mothers
A law was put into place requiring workplaces to have a
separate space set aside as a private lactation space for
mothers who still need to feed newborn babies with
breast milk. Many pediatricians recommend that babies
be fed breast milk up to the age of six months, and
many mothers go back into the workplace before that
time is up, forcing mothers to collect breast milk during
the work day in bathrooms. This law addresses these
situations by giving mothers a secure space to
breastfeed.

8. To see the last new law put into place and
more details on the other laws stated in
this video, visit StephenKoppekin.com
Thanks For Watching!