Sacramento Partner Previews California’s 2022 Employment Laws

In separate interviews with the Sacramento Bee and Bloomberg Law, Ben Ebbink outlined the significant laws that will affect California employers starting Jan. 1, 2022. The impending laws include a spike in fines for employers who don’t provide safe workplaces, an increase in the state’s minimum wage for many employers, a shift in pay structure for certain workers in the state, a ban on penalizing warehouse-distribution workers if they fail to meet productivity targets, and more.

Last year was “kind of a down year” when it comes to the number of significant labor laws getting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature, he said. “Normally we have 20 or 25 significant bills, and this year we’ don’t.”

Ebbink went on to discuss which bills to watch for in 2022—changes to pay and workplace safety standards, a revival of COVID-19 paid sick leave, and a bill that could prevent employers from testing their workers for marijuana use.

Read the full articles in the Sacramento Bee and Bloomberg Law (subscriptions required).