Which Employment Laws Apply to You – in 2015?

Use the following chart as a guide to determine which labor laws apply to you based on the number of employees you have.

Law/ Requirement All Employers: 1 or more employees

Child Labor ✓
Disability Insurance ✓
Domestic Violence/Assault Victim Leave ✓
Employee Safety (Cal/OSHA-including written safety plan)✓
Fair Employment and Housing (FEHA) ✓
Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA-requires I 9 forms) ✓
Independent Contractors ✓
Jury Duty leave ✓
Military Service/USERRA ✓
New Employee Reporting ✓
Paid Family Leave ✓
Paid Sick Leave (effective July 1, 2015) ✓
Posters and Notices (including written notice at time of hire to hourly employees, notices or fliers on workers’ compensation, sexual harassment, disability insurance, paid family leave to all new employees, notices to employees when starting leave of absence and at termination.)✓
Privacy ✓
Sexual Harassment ✓
Smoking in the Workplace ✓
Unemployment Insurance ✓
Unpaid time off to vote ✓
Wages and Hours ✓ (note: there are many details involved just in wage and hour requirements including payment, overtime and recordkeeping.)
Workers’ Compensation ✓

Additional laws if you have 2 or more employees:
Cal-COBRA (health insurance continuation) ✓
Eligible for small group health insurance coverage ✓

Additional laws if you have 4 or more employees:
Discrimination and Foreign Workers ✓

Additional laws if you have 5 or more employees:
Discrimination Laws (State-FEHA) ✓
Pregnancy Disability Laws ✓

Additional laws if you have 15 or more employees:
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ✓
Discrimination Laws (Federal-EEOC) ✓
Organ and Bone Marrow Donors’ Leave ✓

Additional laws if you have 16 or more employees:
Civil Air Patrol Leave ✓

Additional laws if you have 20 or more employees:
COBRA (health insurance continuation Federal) ✓

Additional laws if you have 25 or more employees:
Alcohol/Drug Rehabilitation opportunities allowed✓
Domestic Violence Leave✓
Illiteracy Accommodations ✓
Military Spouse Leave ✓
School Activities Leave✓

Additional laws if you have 50 or more employees:
Affirmative Action (government contractors) ✓
Affordable Care Act (national health insurance reform) ✓
Family and Medical Leave (FMLA & CFRA) ✓
Mandatory 2-Hour Supervisor/Manager Sexual Harassment Training -CA (every 2 years) ✓
Volunteer Firefighters- leave for training ✓

Additional laws if you have 75 or more employees:
WARN Act (plant closings-mass layoffs, notices required) ✓

Additional laws if you have 100 or more employees:
Equal Employment Opportunity Reporting (EEO-1)✓

For more information on these various laws and how they apply to your business, or to discuss a safety and employment law audit, contact: Don Dressler Consulting, 2030 Main Street, Ste. 1300, Irvine, CA. 92614. Ph: 949-533-3742. E-mail: DonDressler1@hotmail.com

Website: http://www.Don Dressler.com and http://www.CalWorkSafety.com

For 2015 – Employee Policies to Review

I encourage you to take fresh look at your employee policies or Employee Handbook, or have an employment attorney or human resources professional review them for you, because there are some important areas of change for 2015.
1. Equal Employment Opportunity – take the time to list all of the protected classifications in your handbook . The California Fair Employment and Housing Council is considering amendments to its regulations regarding California discrimination laws, including a requirement that employers list all “protected classes” or basis for discrimination in a written policy. This is a good idea as it helps protect the employer and educated your managers and supervisors. The list
would be: race, color, national origin or ancestry, religion including religious attire and religious related hair styles, beard, etc., sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breast feeding and related medical conditions), physical and mental disability, age (40 and older), genetic information and privacy of medical records, marital status, sexual orientation and identity including gender expression, veteran status, medical condition including AIDS/HIV, political activities or affiliations. Also protected are whistle blower status, protection from being required to give access to Social Media sites, protection from denial of family and medical care leave, and protection from unfair immigration related employment practices.

2- Anti-Harassment Policy – also take the time to clearly state it is against company policy for anyone to engage in abusive behavior to one of your employees. In the past, most anti-harassment policies focused on sexual harassment or perhaps also prohibited harassment based on other “protected classifications” of employees covered by equal employment laws. In 2015, employers are expected to train supervisors and managers on how to prevent abusive behavior in the workplace. Since it is very clear that abusive behavior is harmful to productivity, causes employee turnover, and is undesirable in the workplace, now is the time to clearly state it is also against company policy.
3- Other Policies. Of course our team at Don Dressler Consulting suggests an annual review of employee policies and handbooks, particularly now with so much activity at both the California and Federal level affecting employee benefits and human resources. A key example is the coming July 1, 2015 California law requiring paid sick leave for all employees. Don’t be mislead by the July 1, 2015 effective date! New employment posters including reference to this law are required as of Jan. 1, 2015 as are notices to new hired “hourly employees” based on the Labor Code Section 2810.5 notice.(The Wage Theft Protection Act). Please notice that we recommend a different format with additional information to protect your company rather than you just using the “official” form from the CA Department of Industrial Relations.
Every single client I have worked with on how to adapt to this new paid sick leave law has had to change their existing policies – and no company has the same problems as another. Allow yourself time to learn about this new law, how it affects you and what it will cost. We can help you design a policy to meet your needs and comply with the law.
If we can help with these or other human relations, safety or workers’ compensation issues, contact our team at Don Dressler Consulting. Email me at dondressler1@hotmail.com.