The 2024 California Legislative session ended on September 30, 2024, when the deadline for Governor Gavin Newsom to sign or veto pending bills expired. While California will once again likely lead the nation in new employment laws, this session appeared to involve fewer major changes compared to prior years.

Read on for details regarding the Top Ten New Employment Laws all California Employers and Human Resources Professionals should know about, as well as additional laws with more limited application or narrower scope that are nonetheless worthy of attention and enacted in 2024 and several notable new local ordinances and new state and federal regulations. Unless otherwise noted, these laws will take effect January 1, 2025.

The 2024 Legislative Session drew to a close at the end of August with a flurry of legislative activity following the summer recess. Preliminarily, there were several new employment bills that have already been signed into law including substantial amendments to California’s Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) and the extension of the small employer family leave mediation program.

Not surprisingly, a number of other employment bills were passed by both chambers of the Legislature and have been sent to Governor Gavin Newsom for signature or veto.

Looking ahead, Governor Newsom has until September 30, 2024 to sign or veto the bills passed by the Legislature.

We identify the employment bills that have already been signed into law, as well as the employment bills currently awaiting Governor Newsom’s signature or veto.

With the arrival of summer, Sacramento is heating up – both literally and figuratively – as the Legislature completes key votes prior to its summer recess. It has been particularly busy as the Legislature is considering the highest number of bills in the last decade, and the crucial deadline for these bills to pass the first legislative chamber has just expired.

While a large number of employment bills surpassed this hurdle, a few significant ones stalled, including bills that would have given employees a “right to disconnect” (AB 2751), substantially amended California’s Fair Chance Act regarding criminal history information (SB 1345) and further expanded liability in the labor contractor context (AB 2741).

For tracking purposes, we have identified the top bills that – if passed – would have the most significant impact on California employers.

Spring has arrived, the 2024 Legislative session is in full bloom, and two new laws have already taken effect. First, AB 1228 (enacted in 2023) took effect on April 1, 2024, creating a $20.00 statewide minimum wage for certain fast food restaurant restaurants covered by that law (i.e., those with 60 locations nationwide, etc.). (See our 2023 Legislative Summary for a more detailed overview of that law.) Second, Governor Gavin Newsom has signed AB 610, which took effect immediately, creating multiple new exemptions from the new fast food minimum wage.

The California Legislature is also still considering a record number of pending bills, including approximately 60 employment-related bills, and key committee votes have recently occurred or will soon occur. As tends to happen, some major bills have stalled as key votes approach (including AB 2741, which would have imposed new obligations on client employers and labor contractors), while other major bills suddenly emerge as amendments occur, including the just-introduced “right to disconnect” bill (AB 2751), which would allow employees to ignore most employer communications outside of work hours. Suffice to say, employers should anticipate a flurry of activity as the deadlines for bills to pass the key policy committee votes (April 26, 2024) and to pass the first legislative chamber (May 24, 2024) approach.

For tracking purposes, we have identified the “Top Ten” bills that – if passed – would have the most significant impact on California employers. These bills that would:

The 2024 Legislative session is officially already underway and has resulted in a significant number of new bills being introduced in the California Assembly and Senate. In Sacramento, the deadline to introduce new bills has now passed. We are tracking more than 57 employment-related bills and an additional 31 employment-related “spot” bills (essentially placeholders that allow legislators to come back later and propose more substantive legislation). We have identified the “Top Ten” bills that – if passed – would have the most significant impact on California employers.