California Labor and Employment Legislation Alert

This edition of the California Labor and Employment Legislation Alert reviews the notable labor and employment-related legislation from first half of the 2009-2010 Regular and Extraordinary Sessions that the Governor signed into law, or that stalled or died in the Legislature.

Highlights from the report:

The Governor signed three bills of note from these Sessions into law:

• ABX3 23: Made technical changes necessary to make California eligible for $3.2 billion of federal stimulus funds, extended the payment of unemployment benefits to eligible individuals, and added an additional twenty weeks of eligibility for benefit payments.
• ABX2 5: Authorizes the inclusion of a regular schedule of eight-hour days in the menu of alternative work schedule options offered to employees, and allows employees, with the consent of their employer, flexibility to move on a weekly basis from one work schedule to another on the adopted menu of work schedule options.
• AB 5: Created California's Electronic Discovery Act, which brought California in line with at least 20 other states that have promulgated their own local eDiscovery specific rules that are largely based upon the Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP), enacted in 2006.

Included among the bills the Governor vetoed are California's version of the Lilly Ledbetter law, legislation limiting forum selection clauses in employment agreements, and legislation that would have restricted the use of credit reports for employment purposes.

Still alive for the second half of the 2009-2010 Regular Session are those "two-year" bills that were not sent to the Governor's desk before September 11. We will continue to update you on those and all other relevant California labor and employment legislation that the Legislature considers in 2010.

For more information, please contact the Seyfarth attorney with whom you work or any California Labor & Employment attorney on our website.