Privacy, Business and Law

Pending legislation currently being debated in the state legislature and the halls of Congress this term include: a ban on secret monitoring of e-mail, subjecting small employers to the family leave laws, and easing comp time rules. Here is a brief summary of major legislation that could affect employers.

California Bills

• Sexual Harassment. A.B. 1856 would make individual employees, not just supervisors, personally liable for sexual harassment.
• Harassment Investigations. S.B. 1432 would provide that reasonable steps for investigating harassment complaints include using licensed private investigators and individuals with specified human resource management qualifications.
• Wage and Hour. A.B. 2509 would increase penalties for certain wage and hour violations and bars employers from deducting credit card fees from employees’ tips that were charged by customers.
• Disability Definition. A.B. 2222 would expand the definitions of mental and physical disability.
• Victims of Domestic Violence. A.B. 2357 would provide domestic violence victims with up to 30 days of unpaid leave during a 12-month period.
• Lie Detector Tests. S.B. 1854 would require employers to post a new workplace polygraph notice.

Old Measures Being Reconsidered in the Legislature

• Family Leave. S.B. 118 expands the family leave rules to allow for time off to care for a grandparent, sibling or domestic partner with a serious health condition. S.B. 1149 will likely be revived; this measure extends family leave coverage to employers with as few as 20 employees, instead of the current threshold of 50.
• Workers’ Compensation. The increase in benefits vetoed last year by Governor Davis has been tacked on to another pending bill, S.B. 996.
• Arbitration. A.B. 858, which will likely be reconsidered, prohibits employers from requiring employees to agree to submit disputes to arbitration.
• Personnel Records. S.B. 1327 expands employees’ rights to inspect their personnel records.
• Employee Computer Records. S.B. 1822 prohibits the secret monitoring of employee e-mail and personal computer records.

New Measures in Congress

• Minimum Wage. Several bills, including S. 625 and H.R. 627, increase the federal minimum wage to as much as $6.50 an hour. And under H.R. 3409, employers can avoid a minimum wage increase by increasing their contribution to their employees’ health insurance coverage.
• Parental Discrimination. S. 1907 bars employment discrimination against parents.
• Stock Options. In response to a recent advisory opinion letter from the U.S. Department of Labor, the Senate unanimously approved legislation exempting stock options from overtime pay calculations. This topic is featured above in this issue.

Other Federal Measures

• Family Leave. Proposals expanding family leave law to cover employees at worksites with as few as 25 employees and allow time off to participate in children’s school activities or to accompany a child or elderly relative to routine medical and dental appointments include S. 201 and H.R. 91.
• Equal Pay. Several measures, including S. 74, H.R. 2397 and H.R. 541, strengthen equal pay laws by enhancing enforcement, increasing penalties, and weakening employer defenses.
• Independent Contractors. H.R. 1525 simplifies rules for classifying independent contractors.
• Compensatory Time Off. S. 1241 allows private sector employees to take compensatory time off in lieu of receiving overtime pay.
• Discrimination Claims. S. 1276 and H.R. 872 prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
• Temporary Employees. H.R. 2298 and H.R. 2299 bar discrimination against temporary employees in wages, hours, and benefits.

Unemployment and Disability Insurance

The federal Department of Labor recently issued a proposed rule that would permit states to use surplus unemployment benefits to pay employees who take time off to care for newborn or newly adopted children. The department expects to enact a final rule later this year. The California Employment Development Department has until July 1, 2000, to report to the state legislature on whether it’s feasible to extend state disability benefits to employees who take family and medical leave, even if the employer is not covered by the state family and medical leave law.