New year, new laws: what employers need to know for 2013.

• Author: Terman, Mark
• Position: Humanresources

as long as rises each day, regulation of California employers will increases each year. And employers received more attention this year with 554 bills introduced in the California Legislature mentioning "employer," compared to 346 last year. Fortunately, most bills do not become law.

An overview of significant new regulation affecting private employers follows.

Employer Access to Social Media

Social media is everywhere. Facebook, for example, claims 1 billion users Ii more than 140 billion friend connections among them. For some employers, this may he too attractive a source of information about employees and job applicants. Balancing employee expectations of privacy against employer business protection needs, AB 1844 prohibits employers from requiring or requesting an employee or applicant to disclose a username or password for the purpose of accessing personal social media or to access personal social media in the presence of the employer or to divulge any personal social media.

It also prohibits employers from discharging, disciplining (or threatening to do so) or retaliating against an employee or applicant for refusing a demand or request by the employer that violates this law.

Excepted from this new law are employer requests to divulge personal social media reasonably believed to be relevant to an investigation of allegations of employee misconduct or employee violation of' applicable laws and regulations, provided that the social media is used solely for purposes of that investigation or a related proceeding.

Nothing in this law limits an employer from requiring or requesting an employee In disclose a username, password or other method for the purpose of' accessing an employer-issued electronic device.

At the same time, the National Labor Relations Board and its counsel continue to opine on when an employer's policies or actions regarding employee use of social media interfere with the protection of concerted activity of employees to, for example, discuss wages and working conditions, whether it involves union activity.

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Thy NLRB general counsel's third and most recent report, which may surprise nonunion employers, is at www.calcpa.org/NLRBsocialmediapolicies.

Religious Dress and Grooming Protected

California employers should know that the Fair Employment and Housing Act protects the right of individuals to seek, obtain and hold employment without discrimination on account of religions creed, observance and belief. Similarly, employers are required to reasonably accommodate religious belief or observance of an individual unless the accommodation would be an undue hardship to the employer.

AB 1964 extends these protections to "religious dress practice" and "religious grooming practice." Religious dress practice includes the wearing or carrying of religious clothing. head or face coverings, jewelry, artifacts and any other item that is part of the individual's observance of his or her religious creed. Religious grooming practice includes all forms of head, facial and body hair that. are part of the individual's religious observance.

This law may cause some employers to act with more tolerance of religious practices than in the past. For example, the law also states that an accommodation is not reasonable if it requires segregation of...