With 2023 just around the corner, here are the top 3 things employers need to do to get ready for 2023:
- Update your employee handbook. Let us help you to tune-up your employee handbook for 2023.
Having an up-to-date handbook will ensure that your organization’s managers will be able to comply with California’s ever changing employment laws.
New changes for 2023 include:
- New requirements for unpaid bereavement leave;
- Expansion of the California Family Rights Act; and
- Arbitration agreement updates.
If it has been several years since you’ve updated your handbook, then your handbook may be out of date regarding earlier changes related to:
- Paid Sick Leave;
- Paid Family Leave;
- Organ and Bone Marrow Donation Leave;
- Lactation Accommodations; and more.
Also we recommend checking that your handbook is up-to-date on California’s rules regarding meal periods, rest breaks, and overtime. We see an increasing number of wage and hour class action and Private Attorneys General Act claims. When employers’ wage and hour policies are non-compliant or not followed, they face greater risks.
- Get ready for new pay transparency requirements.
Employers need to get ready now to comply with SB 1162. Key requirements begin January 1, 2023.
Job postings must include the pay scale (Employers of 15 or employees)
All job postings via direct or third parties, must include a pay scale. The “pay scale” should identify the salary or hourly range that the employer reasonably expects to pay for the position.
Pay scale must be provided to applicants and employees upon request (All employers)
Pay scales must be provided to applicants or employees upon request.
Recordkeeping: Employers must maintain records of job titles and wage history for each employee (All employers)
Employers must include employee job title and wage rate history in their employee records for the duration of employment plus three years after employment ends. This information must be recorded and accessible for review.
Annual pay data report (Private employers with 100 or more employees)
By May 10, 2023, these large private employers must submit an annual pay data report with new information on median and mean hourly rates by race, ethnicity, and sex within each job category. Similar reporting is required of private employers with 100 or more employees hired through labor contractors.
- Employers Must Comply with Additional Requirements of the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) (as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (“CPRA”).
In January 2023, certain private business employers in California will have expanded privacy and information security obligations. The time is now to plan for significant changes to existing policies and practices for handling certain information.
Which Businesses Must Comply with the CCPA?
The CCPA applies to most companies that do business in California and:
- Have an annual gross revenue in excess of $25 million dollars in the preceding calendar year;
- Alone or in combination, annually buy, sell, or share the personal information of 100,000 or more consumers or households; or
- Derive 50 percent or more of their annual revenues from selling or sharing consumers personal information.
The CCPA does not apply to nonprofit organizations or government agencies.
What is required?
Beginning January 1, 2023, employers will be required to:
- Provide an expanded notice to California-based applicants and employees at the time of collection of information concerning information such as the categories of personal information and sensitive personal information collected, the purposes that they will be used, how long the information will be retained, and whether the information is sold or shared.
- Provide new privacy disclosures about employees’ CCPA rights and how to exercise these privacy rights. The employers privacy policy must be updated every 12 months.
- Develop procedures to comply with requests for information, deletion, and correction.
- Enter into data processing agreements with any third parties or services providers, such as including vendors, with whom the employer shares personal information.
- Provide training to ensure proper responses to CCPA requests.
Businesses who fail to comply with the CCPA by January 1, 2023 will be subject to an injunction and per violation penalties of $2,500 and up to $7,500 for each intentional violation and each violation involving personal information of minors. At present, enforcement is through a new California Privacy Protection Agency, and not individual consumers/employees. Employees/consumers do have a private right of action for negligent data breaches.
To prepare for these new data privacy rules, employers are recommended to:
- Determine what type of employee and applicant personal information the company is collecting, where it is stored, and how it disclosed or shared with vendors or others.
- Prepare written policies and procedures to ensure disclosure at the time of collection of information, yearly privacy disclosures, a process to make requests, and timelines and responsibilities for complying with requests.
- Prepare written disclosures and data processing agreements.
- Ensure reasonable security procedures and practices for personal information.
- Provide training to staff who will be responsible for ensuring responses to CCPA requests.
