September Federal & State Employment Law Update for California Employers

September 2018

Fall is just around the corner and with it come the deadlines for establishing a Safe Harbor 401(k) Plan. In most cases a Safe Harbor Plan is required to be established prior to the start of a plan year, although there are some exceptions to this rule. The first exception involves a company that does not have an existing retirement plan and wishes to establishing a new safe harbor 401(k) plan. This company would be allowed to establish a Safe Harbor plan as long as it is established by October 1, 2018 (minimum length of plan year is 3 months). A second exception is for a newly created company that was incorporated with fewer than 3 months remaining in the year. A third exception to the rule involves a company that currently sponsors a profit sharing only plan. A company may convert a profit sharing only plan to a safe harbor plan during the current plan year as long as the plan functions as a safe harbor plan for at least 3 months.

 

Several bills have passed the legislature and have been sent to the governor for consideration including:

Senate Bill 224 Bill adds the element in a cause of action for sexual harassment when the plaintiff proves, among other things, that the defendant holds himself or herself out as being able to help the plaintiff establish a business, service, or professional relationship with the defendant or a 3rd party and removes the element that the plaintiff proves there is an inability by the plaintiff to easily terminate the relationship.

Senate Bill 820 Prohibits provisions in settlement agreements that prevent the disclosure of factual information relating to certain claims of sexual assault, sexual harassment, or harassment or discrimination.

Senate Bill 937 Bill would require an employer to provide a lactation room or location that includes prescribed features and would require an employer, among other things, to provide access to a sink and refrigerator in close proximity to the employee's workspace, as specified.

Senate Bill 1300 Bill specifies that an employer may be responsible for the acts of nonemployees with respect to other harassment activity and would generally prohibit required non-disparagement agreements regarding unlawful acts in the workplace.

Senate Bill 1343 – Expansion of Sexual Harassment Training Requirements

Assembly Bill 1870 - Bill would extend the time limit to allege employment discrimination to 3 years.

Assembly Bill 2079 Bill requires biennial in-person sexual violence and harassment prevention training requirement for certain janitorial employees and employers.

Assembly Bill 2338 Bill would require a talent agency to provide educational materials on sexual harassment prevention, retaliation, and reporting resources and nutrition and eating disorders to its artists and increases penalties.

Assembly Bill 3082 Bill would require standard educational material about sexual harassment and the prevention thereof to be made available to IHSS providers and recipients and a proposed method for uniform data collection to identify the prevalence of sexual harassment in the IHSS program.