44th Annual ELU Highlights
Thank you to all who attended our 2024 Employment Law Update. We had a full room to hear about the newest legislation and court verdicts that will impact our employment practices for 2024 and beyond.
Of course we would like to thank our sponsors who provided our attendees with great options and services for their organizations.
On January 24, more than 100 HR Practitioners and Business Owners attended SDEA’s 44th annual Employment Law Update. As we all know, California law is constantly morphing to address new issues and this year’s revisions have both immediate and upcoming impact for employers. 
Some of the clearer updates include the California Paid Sick Leave requirement increasing to 40 hours per year. While the legislation reiterated a lot of details that we had maybe forgotten about, the law is pretty much the same, just an increase in hours. You can still choose to front-load or do accrual. If you choose to do accrual, one hour for every 30 hours worked still meets accrual requirements. You can still limit Paid Sick Leave that employees use, but now the cap on the limit is 40 instead of 24. For businesses operating in the City of San Diego, nothing has changed.
Another more straight-forward change is in regard to Noncompete Agreements. They used to be unenforceable in California, now it is unlawful for an employer to enter into or attempt to enforce a non-compete agreement.
It’s easier for employees to make retaliation claims in that the new Senate Bill 497 makes a presumption of retaliation if an employer takes adverse action with 90 days of protected activity. (Not meeting the expectations of your job is not protected activity! Yet.)
Some of the more ambiguous requirements include a Workplace Violence Protection Plan that states employers must have a written plan that identifies the person responsible for the plan, must make the plan available for employees, and must provide training although the length and required topics in the training have not been clarified. Plans must be instated by July 1, 2024.
And the Wage Theft Prevention Act Notice now has a box for an “emergency or disaster disclosure”. The attorneys were not sure if San Diego fell into that category after the floods on January 22. 
There have been many other updates that are specific to certain industries. Our members can call us to see if their industry has any new happenings, and we also recommend you read our weekly newsletter to stay in the know on changes that have significant impact to employers.
At SDEA, we are HeRe with you! 858-505-0024