AB 469 was signed into law on October 9, 2011 by Governor Brown of California and will take effect on January 1, 2012. This Act amends the California Labor Code in several important respects. Most notably for employers, the law requires an employer to provide each new non-exempt employee with a written notice (in the language the employer normally uses to communicate employment related information to employees) at the time of hire with the following:
(1) The employee's rate or rates of pay and basis thereof, including any rates for overtime.
(2) Allowances, if any, claimed as part of the minimum wage.
(3) The regular payday designated by the employer in accordance with the requirements of the Labor Code.
(4) The name of the employer, including any "doing business as" names used by the employer.
(5) The physical address of the employer's main office or principal place of business, and a mailing address, if different.
(6) The telephone number of the employer.
(7) The name, address, and telephone number of the employer's workers' compensation insurance carrier.
(8) Any other information the Labor Commissioner deems material and necessary.
Even after hiring, if an employer changes any of the required information, the employer must notify its employees of the changes within seven days, either by providing a new notice or by including the new information on a timely issued wage statement.
To assist with compliance, the Labor Commissioner has been charged to prepare a template and make it available to employers by late December to use it to comply with the notice requirements. As soon as the template is released, Flores Financial Services will make it available to all clients to
ensure compliance to the new law by January 1, 2012.
NLRB Posting Requirement
The National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB") recently adopted a final rule requiring employers to post a notice informing employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act, including, among other things, the right to form, join or assist a union and bargain collectively. The NLRB just released the notice, which can be downloaded here.
The posting requirement, which has been postponed to take effect January 31, 2012, applies to virtually all private-sector employers regardless of whether their employees are unionized. Additionally, if at least 20% of an employer's workforce in not proficient in English, the notice must be posted in English and the other languages spoken by the employees in the workforce. The notice must be posted by all private employers subject to the NLRB's jurisdiction, which excludes only agricultural, railro
ad and airline employers, as well as very small employers that conduct an insufficient volume of business to have more than a slight effect on interstate commerce. This is generally defined as less than $500,000 in sales volume for retail businesses and less than $50,000 of goods or services provided or purchased across state lines for non-retail businesses.
The notice must be displayed in areas where other workplace notices are posted. Failure to comply with the new posting requirement may be deemed an unfair labor practice, can result in tolling the applicable statute of limitations for filing an unfair labor practice charge and, in certain NLRB proceedings, may be considered evidence of unlawful motive. The new 2012 California Employee Poster includes the required notice in addition to several other notices that have been updated. If you need assistance in ordering a 2012 Employee Poster, please contact Sarina Flores or Nicollette Donato in Flores Financial Services' HR Department.
For more information about any of the topics discussed above, please feel free to contact Sarina Flores or Nicollette Donato in Flores Financial Services' Human Resources Department at (619) 334-7010.
