A slew of new laws that address unpaid parental leave, new hiring restrictions and other workplace issues will have an impact on California businesses in the coming year.

The California Chamber of Commerce has released a list of the laws that are scheduled to take effect in 2018 or beyond. Some are far-reaching, while others make small changes to portions of existing laws or may affect employers only in specific industries.

Parental leave

Senate Bill 63, also known as the New Parent Leave Act, requires small businesses with 20 or more employees to provide eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to bond with a new child — leave that must be taken within a year of the child’s birth, adoption or foster care placement.

The parental leave is only for baby bonding. Employers are not required to provide leave to workers for other reasons, such as a family member’s medical issue. Authored by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D- Santa Barbara, the legislation is expected to have the biggest impact on employers with 20 to 49 employees who are currently not required to provide baby bonding leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act or the state California Family Rights Act.

David Houston, who owns six Barney’s Beanery restaurant/bar locations throughout Southern California, has no problem with the concept of SB 63. But he figures it will be tinkered with as time goes on.

“I don’t know of any fellow business owners who wouldn’t allow an employee to have time away for this,” he said. “But I always get the feeling that these laws are the proverbial camel’s nose under the tent. At some point, some politician will say, ‘Well, they can’t afford to be off that long without being paid.’ So they’ll want those employees to be paid for that time off. That’s where it could be headed.”

Criminal history

Houston also has reservations about Assembly Bill 1008.

That measure, which is seen as an extension of the “ban-the-box” initiative that took effect in 2013, prohibits employers with five or more employees from asking about criminal history information on job applications and from inquiring about or considering criminal history at any time before a conditional offer of employment has been made. It’s designed to give an applicant the opportunity to challenge an employer’s decision to retract a job offer if it was based on the discovery of a past criminal offense.

The bill includes exceptions for positions where a criminal background check is required by federal, state or local law.

“I think this was probably written by trial lawyers,” Houston said. “The non-intuitive order in which you would do things is not natural and that artificial sequence would seem to present an opening for litigation. Will the state indemnify us if we hire a criminal and they commit some kind of act? No. They put all of the risk and the burden on us. What if you hire a guy who was a thief before and he steals from your customers?”

The California Labor Federation and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law are major proponents of AB 1008.

Prior salary

Another bill, AB 168, bans employers from asking about a job applicant’s prior salary, compensation or benefits. Employers will not be able to rely on salary history information as a factor in determining whether to hire someone or how much to pay them. It also requires an employer to provide applicants with the pay scale for a position upon reasonable request.

The legislation is aimed in part at narrowing the pay gap between men and women. Women are often paid less than men for performing the same job. AB 168 will allow an employer to take an applicant’s prior salary into consideration when hiring as long as the applicant discloses that information without any prompting.

“This is a win-win not only for men, but for women as well,” said Lori Shreve Blake, senior director of alumni and student services at the USC Career Center. “When an employer asks what salary an applicant might want, they might say $50,000 when that position is actually budgeted for $70,000.”

Others who reveal their prior or current salary to a prospective employer might be removed from consideration before the interview process can even begin, Blake said, because the company might feel they can’t match that pay level.

“With state jobs you can go to a website and look up the salaries for various positions,” she said. “The military is really the leader in equitable pay. A captain with two years in that rank will get the same pay, whether it’s a man or a women.”

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