Western Banker July/August 2022

face civil penalties and requires em ployers to maintain records of job descriptions and wage rate history for each employee, subject to inspec tion by the Labor Commissioner. In 2017, similar legislation was vetoed by then Govern Brown, who wrote in his veto letter, “…it is unclear that the bill as written, given its ambigu ous wording, will provide data that will meaningfully contribute to ef forts to close the gender wage gap. Indeed, I am worried that this ambi guity could be exploited to encour age more litigation than pay equity.” Will CA Adopt a Four-Day Workweek? AB 2932 (Low) – This proposal to shorten the regular workweek from 40 to 32 hours for private sector em ployers of more than 500 employees was ultimately shelved because there was too little time to fully study its implications before taking the legisla tive step of implementation. The mea sure proposed to make this change at the same total compensation and required overtime to hourly non-ex empt workers for hour in excess of 32 per week; California is one of the few states with the eight-hour daily overtime threshold. After AB 2932 was held, two nonprofit groups an nounced a 6-month pilot program of 70 U.K. companies trialing the four day workweek with no loss of pay, as long as employees maintain the same level of output. Pending results of the trial, which concludes in December 2022, California lawmakers may re visit this idea. Workplace Technology Accountability Act AB 1651 (Kalra) – While this spe cific measure was shelved, we expect conversations on this broader topic to continue. The Workplace Tech CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

taking or threatening adverse action against employees in these circum stances. The measure also prohibits employers from limiting employees’ use of mobile phones or other com munication devices if the employee wishes to communicate about their safety, seek emergency assistance or assess a state of emergency. Enforced by the Private Attorney Generals Act (PAGA), the measure subjects em ployers to potentially costly lawsuits if they dispute an employee’s decision or have another employee take over job duties. It is worth noting that it is already a crime in California to re

quire an employee to remain at their place of work if there is a notice to evacuate or leave. Reporting Pay & Gender Data of Employees SB 1162 (Limon) – This requires private employers with 100 or more employees to submit annual pay data reports to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), which is required to publish the pay data report on a public website. The measure additionally requires em ployers with 15 or more employees to maintain and share pay scale data for any job postings or potentially

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WesternBanker | Issue 4 2022