2022 Employer Updates

Hello and Happy New Year!

Below is a summary of several employer updates to be aware of for 2022:

• CA has extended the indoor mask mandate through February 15^th.
• CA’s minimum wage was increased on January 1^st to $14 per hour for small employers and $15 per hour for employers with 26 or more employees. Several categories for exempt employees also have increased wage minimums for 2022.
• Cal/OSHA’s enforcement authority was expanded by creating two new violations— “enterprise-wide” violations and “egregious” violations.
• Agricultural workers will now receive overtime after 8 hours per day or 40 hours per week (for large Ag employers with 26 or more employees)
• A new law effective January 1, 2022 (SB 331), expands on previous prohibitions of confidentiality clauses in severance and settlement agreements. If you have a confidentiality section in your employee handbooks, that section will likely need to be updated.
• If your employee handbook included a section (or addendum) regarding the EPSL and/or the CA COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave, those should be removed or edited as the laws expired on September 30^th, 2021.
• This Friday, January 14^th, the newly revised Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) go into effect for CA employers. Attached is a summary of some key elements of the updated standards.
• OSHA published an ETS that also requires employers with 100 or more employees to develop and implement a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy. A final Supreme Court ruling on the stay of this mandate should be issued sometime this month.