New laws in 2016 will affect business in the Sacramento area, however the positive side is that a number of laws were defeated by business groups, thereby reducing additional regulation. Understanding these new laws before they go into effect will give business owners an upper hand for starting 2016.
Here are the new laws:
- Minimum wage: Minimum wage in California will increase to $10 in 2016 based on a legislation approved in 2014, with nonexempt employees earning at least twice the state minimum wage.
- Fair Pay Act: This law is meant to protect employees against workplace discrimination. An employee must be paid the same as any other gender in a similar job unless the other employee can prove they have an increased education or seniority that justifies a higher pay.
- School leave: Companies with 25 or more employees must provide their employees with up to eight hours per month and up to 40 total hours in a calendar year of unpaid time off to enroll a child in school, childcare or address a school-related emergency.
- Leeway or pay-stub errors: An employer now has 33 days to correct a minor problem on a pay stub before an employee can sue.
- Wage theft: If an employer withholds wages from their employees, the California Labor Commissioner has the right to file a lien against the employer’s property, if the business owner declines to purchase a $50,000 wage bond after found guilty for wage theft.
- Grocery store employees: After an ownership change, grocery-store workers have 90-days of job protection.
- Franchisees: Unless franchisees substantially breach their contract, corporate chains can no longer fire franchisee owners.
These are only short descriptions of the laws that we felt would affect businesses in 2016. We encourage you to research each of the laws as they would affect your business and take the proper legal action to ensure you are covered in the upcoming year.