California Legal News

California Legal News

5 Things You Should Do Now to Protect Your Business

Happy New Year! Are you ready for the 2018 California business laws? We hope you had a safe and enjoyable holiday season. With the new year comes new responsibilities for employers. The first thing every business should do is revise and update its employee handbook to reflect these new laws. One small discrepancy can mean a lawsuit if your policies don’t match the current rule of law.

Here are 5 things you should do now to protect your company. We will be going into further detail about each of these new laws in coming weeks.

1) Review your employment applications. Remove any references to salary history and criminal convictions. Both questions are taboo on paper and during interviews. Criminals still be denied employment depending on the crime severity, but it can’t be done prematurely.

2) Make sure all employees doing equivalent work are receiving equivalent pay. You could open yourself up to a lawsuit if you can’t prove that differences in pay aren’t related to race or gender.

3) Make sure all minimum wage employees are making the new state wage of $11 per hour for businesses with 26+ employees. It’s $10.50 per hour for businesses with 25 or fewer employees. Some municipalities require a higher minimum wage.

4) If you employ 20 or more people, offer 12 weeks of unpaid leave for new natural or foster parents.

5) New employees must be provided with a written notice about their rights to take time off work after an act of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking.

Questions about the 2018 California business laws? Give us a call at (951) 300-2690. We are here to help!

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