The expiration of the May 31^st deadline for bills to pass the first legislative chamber has brought the 2019-2020 California Legislative Session into much clearer focus.  And, as expected, many significant employment bills have passed the first legislative chamber, including bills to:

• Prohibit mandatory pre-employment arbitration agreements for Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and/or Labor Code violations (AB 51);
• Delay the new harassment training deadlines for smaller employers and non-supervisory employees from January 1, 2020 to January 1, 2021 and clarify that employees who received sexual harassment training in 2018 need not be re-trained in 2019 (SB 778);
• Impose joint liability for harassment upon client employers and labor contractors (AB 170);
• Amend the Labor Code to preclude discrimination or retaliation against sexual harassment victims and their family members (AB 171);
• Extend the statute of limitations for FEHA claims from one to three years (AB 9) and for Labor Code claims from six months to two years (AB 403);
• Preclude race discrimination based upon hair texture and hairstyles (SB 188);
• Require employers to provide up to an additional thirty days of unpaid leave for organ donations (AB 1223);
• Further expand workplace lactation accommodation requirements (SB 142);
• Amend the California Consumer Privacy Act to exclude information gathered by employers in the employment context (AB 25);
• Prohibit so-called “no rehire” provisions in employment-related settlement agreements (AB 749);
• Codify the California Supreme Court’s Dynamex ruling regarding independent contractors (AB 5); and
• Require larger employers to submit annual “pay data reports” (SB 171).