Wow.  Time flies.  I have been meaning to post this blog for a few weeks.  Anyway…

Below are a few important employment law updates you should consider:

• The EEOC has issued a new “Know Your Rights Poster.”  You can access it here. Covered employers should disregard the old one and use the new one.
• With the general election coming up, it’s important to remember employer rights and obligations with respect to voting.  First, all employers must display a poster describing voting leave requirements at least 10 days before every statewide election. Also, an employee who does not have sufficient time to vote outside of working hours is entitled to take up to two hours of paid time to vote in a statewide election. Of course, with vote-by-mail and current polling hours, this is a tough argument for employees to make.  That said, if an employee does need time off to vote, they must notify the employer at least two working days in advance to arrange a voting time, and take time off at the beginning or end of the shift.
• The California Department of Public Heath recently updated its “close contact” definition.  “Close contact” now means the following: (1) for indoor spaces of 400,000 or fewer cubic feet per floor — such as a home, clinic waiting room, or airplane — a “close contact” is defined as sharing the same indoor airspace for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period (for example, three separate five-minute exposures for a total of 15 minutes) when someone has tested positive for COVID-19 or diagnosed with COVID-19; and (2) for indoor spaces greater than 400,000 cubic feet per floor (such as open-floor-plan offices, warehouses, large retail stores, manufacturing plants, or food processing facilities), a “close contact” is defined as being within six feet of the infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period during the infected person’s infectious period.
• The California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) has released new compensation requirements for the computer software employee exemption and the licensed physician and surgeon exemption. These requirements, which take effect on January 1, 2023, are tied to the California Consumer Price Index (CCPI) for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (which measured a 7.6 percent CCPI increase this year).  For the computer software employee exemption: (1) the minimum hourly rate of pay exemption increased to $53.80 from its previous rate of $50; (2) the minimum monthly salary increased to $9,338.78 from its previous rate of $8,679.16; and (3) the minimum annual salary exemption increased to $112,065.20 from its previous rate of $104,149.81. The licensed physician and surgeon hourly exemption increased from $91.07 to $97.99 per hour.

Register now for our 26th Annual Employment Law Update. We will cover all of the new laws and rules for 2023 and beyond.

Be careful out there!