More Changes for California—Updated State Poster Required

California’s Transgender Rights in the Workplace notice and the combined Unemployment Insurance/Disability Insurance/Paid Family Leave notice have just been updated.

What Employers and Employees Need to Know

Transgender Rights in the Workplace

The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) updated the notice to include a new language related to bathroom privacy. Where possible, employers should provide an easily accessible unisex single-stall bathroom for use by any employee who wants more privacy—regardless of the reason.

However, the use of a unisex single-stall bathroom must be a matter of choice. Employees may not be forced to use one, whether as a matter of policy or due to harassment in a gender-appropriate bathroom.

In addition, a change has been made to the Gender Transition section of the notice. The words “or accommodation” have been added to the following sentence: “An employer may not condition its treatment or accommodation of a transitioning employee upon completion of a particular step in a gender transition.”

One item on the notice that has not changed is the revision date, which is November 2017. We reached out to the DFEH to confirm that this version of the notice is required to be posted, and our contact at the department has assured us that it is a required posting.

Unemployment Insurance/Disability Insurance/Paid Family Leave

California’s Employment Development Department (EDD) has made several changes to this combined notice that are of special interest to employees. The notice has a new revision date of 5/18.

The changes to Unemployment Insurance are as follows:

  • Employees are now eligible to receive benefits if they become unemployed or their work hours are reduced due to no fault of their own.
  • In order to claim benefits, employees must now be available for work and searching for work.
  • A new website has been provided for applying for benefits online, and new hours have been added for applying via phone.

Under  Disability Insurance, the term “disability” has been added to the list of reasons employees may be unable to work and eligible for benefits: due to a non-work-related illness, injury, pregnancy, or disability. The EDD has also provided a new website where employees can apply online for benefits.

The Paid Family Leave section of the notice expands the information about using leave to care for a seriously ill family member or to bond with a new child, as follows:

  • Leave may now be used to care for a seriously ill child, parent, parent-in-law, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, or registered domestic partner.
  • Parents may now use leave to bond with a new biological, adopted, or foster child.

Plus, a new website has been provided for applying for benefits online.

Worry-Free Compliance

Because these changes make this the second revision to our California poster in the last 6 months, we encourage you to order our 1-Year Compliance Plan so that you will automatically receive the updated California poster as soon as it is ready. Under the plan, you will get free updates for mandatory changes, no matter how many occur within the 12-month period, making this the best way to ensure worry-free compliance!