'04 employment law changes.

• Author: Wimmer, David A.
• Position: Employment Law

From an employer's perspective, former Gov. Gray Davis continued his trend of approving employee-friendly bills. Davis signed bills during the most recent session that mandate employer-provided health insurance, expand sexual harassment liability and create new causes of action to combat alleged Labor Code violations. Here are some new laws employers must comply with in the coming years.

SB 1661--PAID FAMILY LEAVE (2003 LAW)

SB 1661, the Legislature's most controversial bill during the 2002 term, allows eligible employees to receive up to six weeks of paid leave for the sickness or injury of a family member or domestic partner, or the birth, adoption or foster-care placement of a new child.

Employees cannot begin taking paid leave until July 1, 2004, and must incur one week of unpaid leave prior to taking their leave under this law.

To pay for the program, employees, depending on their income, will have up to $70 per year deducted from their paychecks beginning Jan. 1, 2004.

SB 1661 does not require employers to hold open a position for employees on this leave unless required to do so under some other law, such as the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or the California Family Rights Act (CFRA). Also, SB 1661 will not extend the 12 weeks of unpaid leave available to employees under FMLA or CFRA.

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Beginning Jan. 1, 2004, employers must supply a notice provided by the California director of employment development about these new insurance benefits to each employee hired on or after Jan. 1, 2004, and to employees leaving work on or after July 1, 2004, because of pregnancy, sickness or dependent care. The director of employment development should provide this notice to employers prior to Jan. 1, 2004.

SB 2--MANDATED EMPLOYER-PROVIDED HEALTH CARE

SB 2 creates a system that requires designated employers to either provide health coverage for their employees or pay a fee to a state-run insurance service that will provide coverage.

Generally, employers can satisfy this bill's requirements by providing proof of coverage for eligible employees in a Medicare insurance program; an employer-provided group health insurance policy that covers hospital, surgical and medical expenses; a union's health and welfare fund; any other collective bargaining agreement that provides for health and welfare coverage; or any employer-sponsored, group health plan covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).

Since...