On October 13, 2019, the deadline for Governor Gavin Newsom to sign or veto new laws expired, bringing the 2019 California Legislative session to a conclusion.  As expected, there were a number of new employment laws enacted in 2019, including laws to:

• Codify the California Supreme Court’s Dynamex ruling regarding independent contractors while identifying various exemptions (AB 5);
• Prohibit mandatory pre-employment arbitration agreements for violations of the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and/or Labor Code (AB 51);
• Delay the new harassment training deadlines for smaller employers and non-supervisory employees from January 1, 2020 to January 1, 2021 and to clarify that employees who received sexual harassment training in 2018 need not be re-trained in 2019 (SB 778);
• Amend the FEHA to preclude racial discrimination related to hairstyles (SB 188);
• Extend the statute of limitations for FEHA claims from one to three years (AB 9)
• Further expand workplace lactation accommodation requirements (SB 142);
• Update the requirements and procedures for reporting serious workplace injuries (AB 1804 and AB 1805);
• Require employers to provide up to an additional thirty days of unpaid leave for organ donations (AB 1223);
• Authorize employers and/or co-workers to petition for gun violence restraining orders (AB 61);
• Amend the California Consumer Privacy Act to temporarily exclude information gathered by employers in the employment context (AB 25); and
• Prohibit so-called “no rehire” provisions in employment-related settlement agreements (AB 749).
• Require employers provide additional notices related to deadlines for flexible spending accounts (AB 1554); and
• Prohibit employers from requiring employees to bring their mail in election ballots to work (AB 17).