Three New California Employment Laws Expand Bereavement Leave, Unify Sex-Discrimination Definition and Add Anti-Hate-Speech Training
Sacramento, capital of California: three employment laws signed in California will progressively change employer handbooks and training obligations statewide. The measures — Senate Bill 1149, Assembly Bill 1803 and Assembly Bill 2563 — address bereavement leave, harassment-prevention training and a uniform definition of "sex discrimination."
SB 1149 amends Government Code section 12945.7. Existing law requires employers with five or more employees to provide up to five days of bereavement leave, usable within three months of a family member's death, for employees with at least 30 days of service. The new law expands "family member" to include a "designated person" — someone related by blood or whose association with the employee is equivalent to a family relationship — though an employer may limit the designation to one person per 12-month period. AB 1803 requires that, beginning January 1, 2028, California's mandatory harassment-prevention training (two hours for supervisors, one hour for nonsupervisory employees, every two years, for employers with five or more employees) include anti-hate-speech content on recognizing, reporting and responding to speech that vilifies people based on characteristics protected under Government Code section 12940(a); training that already covers unlawful harassment and abusive conduct satisfies the requirement.
AB 2563 adds parallel provisions across more than 20 California codes, including the Fair Employment and Housing Act's section 12926, establishing a broad, uniform definition of sex discrimination that covers assigned sex at birth, including nonbinary identities, and sex or gender stereotypes, gender identity and expression, gender-affirming care, pregnancy and related conditions (abortion, lactation, miscarriage, fertility and contraception), sexual orientation and intersex traits, with harassment expressly included. The Legislature states the bill is declarative of existing law.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 加州首府萨克拉门托市塔桥与市中心天际线。Sacramento's Tower Bridge and downtown skyline, capital of California.
