Two job killer carryover bills expanding mandates on employers died in the Assembly fiscal committee this month.
Failing to move out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee were AB 1119 (Wicks; D-Oakland), expanding employers’ duty to accommodate employees, and AB 95 (Low; D-Campbell), a burdensome new bereavement leave mandate.
AB 1119 would have imposed new burdens on employers to accommodate any employee with family responsibilities. This essentially would have included a new, uncapped protected leave for employees to request time off and exposed employers to costly litigation under the Fair Employment and Housing Act.
If passed, AB 1119 could have enabled an employee to challenge any adverse employment action as being related to the employee’s family responsibilities, rather than an actual violation of employment policies.
AB 95 would have imposed a significant new burden on employers of every size by mandating that they provide employees up to 10 days of bereavement leave upon the death of a spouse, child, parent, sibling, grandparent, grandchild or domestic partner, regardless of how long the employee had worked for the employer. The bill also would have opened up new avenues for litigation against California employers by establishing a brand-new private right of action — in addition to liability under the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) and administrative enforcement through the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.
