Today, the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) approved amendments to California’s pregnancy regulations proposed by the Fair Employment and Housing Commission (FEHC). The amendments take effect December 30, 2012. 

The approved pregnancy disability regulations make significant changes to state law, including:

This year, California’s Legislature passed Senate Bill 863, containing wide-ranging workers’ compensation reform measures. SB 863 takes effect on Jan. 1, 2013. 

Some of its provisions will be effective immediately, requiring changes to notices that explain employee rights and employer obligations. California employers must post a notice explaining employee rights and employer obligations under the state workers’ compensation system and must provide all employees with a workers’ compensation pamphlet at the time of hire.

CalChamber worked with the Division of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) to obtain approved language for the required workers’ compensation notice and pamphlet. CalChamber’s 2013 California and Federal Employment Notices Poster and Workers’ Compensation pamphlet both contain language required by law for January 1, 2013, and approved by the DWC. The 2013 California and Federal Employment Notices Postercontains the 16 state and federal employment notices every California employer must post. 

Although some of the bill’s measures will take effect January 1, other provisions require administrative/regulatory action prior to implementation. 

The Internal Revenue Service today issued the 2013 optional standard mileage ratesused to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes. 

The rates take effect on January 1, 2013. According to the IRS, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be:

Voters in San Jose agreed this week to hike the city’s minimum hourly wage to $10 per hour — $2 per hour above the state minimum wage. 

San Jose is now the second city in California to set its own minimum wage. Three other cities nationwide set their own minimum wage: Washington, D.C., and Santa Fe and Albuquerque, N.M. 

The first California city to set its own minimum wage, San Francisco, did so in 2003. The current minimum wage in San Francisco is $10.24 an hour. The San Francisco rate increases to $10.55 an hour beginning January 1, 2013. 

The San Jose law applies to employers who either maintain a facility in the city of San Jose or who are subject to the city’s business license tax (Chapter 4.76 of the city’s municipal code). 

Like San Francisco, the new San Jose ordinance comes with a posting requirement for employers. Employers will be required to post a notice setting forth the current San Jose minimum wage rate. 

California’s Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) announced rate changes for the computer software employee exemption and the licensed physician or surgeon exemption.

The new rates take effect January 1, 2013.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced in mid October that it issued 341 decisions in contested cases during from October 1, 2011, through September 30, 2012. The agency issued decisions in 277 unfair labor practice cases and 64 representation cases. 

The NLRB also said it cut the median age of pending cases to 108 days from 219 days – a reduction of nearly 50 percent. All Board decisions can be found on the NLRB website. Some highlights of FY2012 case production follow:

There's so much to love about Halloween, like seeing toddlers in adorable fuzzy bunny costumes or watching older kids flaunt their own wildly inventive disguises. Carving pumpkins, drinking cider, trick-or-treating, attend parties, and eat yummy treats add up to an enjoyable fall holiday.

As Hurricane Sandy bears down on the eastern seaboard, employers should begin to plan ahead for any weather-related closures of their offices, factories or other facilities.  The effect of a storm closure on compensation requirements varies for different types of employees and also varies by state.

We previously reported that a San Diego Superior Court found See's Candy Shops violated California law by rounding employee time entries to the nearest-tenth of an hour, and that the California Supreme Court ordered the Fourth District Court of Appeal to review the case and decide the rounding issue.  On Monday, the Court of Appeal decided the issue of first impression in a published decisionand held that “the rule in California is that an employer is entitled to use the nearest-tenth rounding policy if the rounding policy is fair and neutral on its face and ‘it is used in such a manner that it will not result, over a period of time, in failure to compensate the employees properly for all the time they have actually worked.”  This comes as great news to thousands of employers across California who utilize similar neutral rounding policies.    

Hurricane Sandy is a looming emergency for much of the East Coast, causing the closure of many private and government offices and crippling transportation. 

It may be impossible to ever be completely prepared for catastrophic emergencies. But employers can take proactive measures and should also be mindful of employment law obligations.