The Fisher Phillips Guide to Pending Employment Bills  

It’s been a long legislative year. And this being Governor Newsom’s first term in office, many observers have been anxiously awaiting to see what approach he takes when it comes to labor and employment legislation. Now all of the flurry of activity is behind us and hundreds of bills now sit his desk for either a signature or a veto.

The big employment issue for California employers in 2019 has been continuing fallout from the California Supreme Court’s 2018 Dynamex decision and the legislature’s effort (via Assembly Bill 5) to codify and expand the “ABC test” for determining whether an individual is an employee or an independent contractor. Governor Newsom wasted no time on this one, and already signed AB 5 into law. You can read our coverage on this one here, here and here.

Keep Track With Our Handy Guide

But there are still hundreds of bills remaining to be acted upon. So now the waiting game begins. Governor Newsom has between now and October 13, 2019 to sign or veto legislation. He will likely sign some measures here and there, but the vast majority will likely be acted upon during the last few days before the deadline. And certainly the most controversial bills are unlikely to be acted upon until the very end.

We’ve prepared this handy guide that breaks down the most significant measures by subject matter (with links to the actual bill language and other materials). A few have already been signed into law, but for the most part, we’ll all have to wait and see what the governor actually does on each of these bills. 

What’s Next?

Again, Governor Newsom has until October 13 to sign or veto legislation. Unless otherwise noted, any bill he does sign will go into effect on January 1, 2020. We’ll keep you posted here and via legal alerts about any significant bills that the governor signs, and will walk you through what any new laws mean for your business and identify any steps you need to take to comply.

In the meantime, if you have any questions about how these pending measures may impact your business, please contact your Fisher Phillips attorney or one of the attorneys in any of our California offices:

Irvine: 949.851.2424

Los Angeles: 213.330.4500

Sacramento: 916.210.0400

San Diego: 858.597.9600

San Francisco: 415.490.9000