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New Laws for 2020: Assembly Bill 3075 (California)

 

Rounding the bend on the end of 2020, the California Legislature has been busy finalizing several relevant labor and employment law related pieces of legislation which California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed into law.

On September 30th, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 3075 into law which will extend successor liability for California Labor Code violations.  The legislation sought to prevent an employer from committing a Labor Code violation, doing away with the business (by changing names, dropping a d/b/a, etc.), creating essentially the same business under a new name, and escaping liability

Under the legislation, Section 200.3 is added to the Labor Code which stipulates that “a successor to any judgment debtor shall be liable for any wages, damages, and penalties owed to any judgment debtor’s former workforce pursuant to a final judgment.”  “Successor” includes any business that “[u]ses substantially the same facilities or substantially the same workforce to offer substantially the same services as the judgment debtor.”  Going one step further, the legislation applies to any employer in the state that “[e]mploys as a managing agent any person who directly controlled the wages, hours, or working conditions of the affected workforce of the judgment debtor.”

Now bear in mind that these change to the Labor Code are to be implemented by January 1, 2022.  That gives employers in the state a bit of breathing room here.  However, as with any change to an applicable Labor Code or statute, I would suggest steps be taken to ensure compliance before the legislation takes effect.

For a copy of Assembly Bill 3075:  http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201920200AB3075

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