The arrival of summer means the mid-point of the 2020 Legislative Session, with bills beginning to move from the first legislative chamber to the second before the brief legislative recess.  Not surprisingly, there are a number of significant employment bills, including many dealing with COVID-19 issues, which have continued to advance. These include bills that would:

• Amend California’s “family and medical leave” law (CFRA) and Paid Sick leave related to time off for public health emergencies or states of emergency (AB 3216);
• Expand the CFRA to apply to employers with one or more employees (SB 1383);
• Expand workers’ compensation coverage, including to presume employees who contract COVID-19 are covered (AB 664/SB 1159/AB 196);
• Amend AB 5, including expanding the exempted professional services and industries (AB 1850/AB 2257);
• Expand California’s Paid Family Leave benefits to employees who need time off related to COVID-19 purposes (SB 943);
• Establish a “right of recall” for laid off employees from private employers (AB 3216);
• Require larger employers to annually submit “pay data reports” to the DFEH (SB 973)l
• Require employers provide 10 days of bereavement leave (AB 2999); and
• Impose new notice requirements for H2-A employers related to emergency or disaster declarations (SB 1102).

Looking ahead, the Legislature will likely take a brief summer recess before returning to try and pass bills before the August 31^st deadline to send them to Governor Newsom.

In the interim, listed below is an overview, arranged largely by subject matter, of the key employment bills currently pending, and beginning with the recently-introduced COVID-19 proposals.