Governor Newsom signed several bills that will provide greater protections for California workers. Here are some of the most noteworthy:

Employers subject to imprisonment for intentional wage theft

AB 1003 makes intentional theft of wages, including gratuities, punishable as grand theft. An employer commits intentional wage theft by use of fraud or while knowingly paying less than minimum wage, not paying workers overtime, not allowing workers to take meal and rest breaks,

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As if parenting and holding down a job weren’t already hard enough, the coronavirus pandemic has forced working parents to juggle competing demands from their employers and their children, many of whom were in ‘virtual’ school or had to stay home because their child-care was closed due to health and safety concerns.  

A federal law was passed to address this problem, but most of that has expired.  However, California law still provides some protection for parents.

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Governor Newsom ended California’s stay-at-home order effective June 15, bringing an end to capacity limits and physical distancing requirements for businesses and allowing fully vaccinated people to stop wearing masks in most places. 

As of June 15, if you are fully vaccinated (both doses of the vaccine and at least 14 days after the final dose), you have no obligation to wear face masks except,

(1) on public transit and in public transit stations;

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One of the first things the Biden Administration did after January 20 was to make sweeping changes to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the agency that oversees the conduct of work between unions and employers. On Day One, President Biden demanded the resignation and eventually terminated, the Trump NLRB General Counsel Peter Robb, whose term otherwise would not have ended until November. Robb was responsible for pushing an agenda that would do more damage to unions than any of his Republican-appointed predecessors.

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In early November, loosening its longstanding appearance restrictions, UPS will allow employees to wear beards and “natural black hairstyles.”  Most observers attribute this change to the company’s belated recognition that the previous policy was discriminatory, as alleged in numerous grievances filed by Teamsters locals over the past decades.

The new policy expressly permits traditional black hairstyles, such as “Afros, braids, curls, locks, twists, and knots.” The policy also makes clear that beards and mustaches “are definitely acceptable as long as they are worn in a businesslike manner and don’t create a safety concern.”

As further evidence of its acknowledgment that we are living in the 21st Century,

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It can be discouraging to keep track of the Trump NLRB’s rollback of worker rights, but it’s important for unions and their members to stay abreast of the shifting legal landscape. One recent setback alters the decades-old rules for employees voicing support for organizing, for shop steward conduct in the workplace, and for union member conduct on picket lines.

In recognition of the fact that employee discussions with their fellow workers and with management about union-related issues can become heated,

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So much is still unknown about COVID-19 (such as, how exactly it spreads, why the symptoms can range from mild to extreme, and whether you can develop immunity.) It may be impossible to say with absolute legal certainty what is so “unsafe” as to justify a refusal to work. However, the stakes are quite high: refusal to follow a direct order to ‘get to work’ or ‘keep working’ is insubordination and the penalty for insubordination is often termination.

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As the new year starts, it is time for a look back to some of the significant bills passed by the California Legislature this year, as well as a look ahead to drivers’ license changes taking effect in the New Year.

AB-5: Ending worker misclassification

The biggest news out of Sacramento is the passage of AB-5. This bill codifies the Supreme Court’s decision last year in the Dynamex case that drew the line between workers who are employees and those who are legitimately treated as independent contractors.

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