New Year, Revised Handbook -

Now that you know all about the new employment laws in California for 2016—see our Employment Law Commentary from last month—it’s time to think about revising your employee handbooks and personnel procedures for the New Year. Here are the top 7 California employee handbook and personnel procedure changes to make for 2016.

1. Family and Medical Leave Policy for California Family Rights Act Leave -

On July 1, 2015, the California Family Rights Act (“CFRA”) implementing regulations were significantly revised. The changes relevant to your family and medical leave/CFRA policy include a shortened time to respond to requests for leave (now 5 days), revisions to the definition of “inpatient care,” which constitutes a serious health condition; an explicit obligation to reasonably accommodate disabilities pursuant to the Fair Employment and Housing Act (“FEHA”), notice of changes to the 12-month period; calculating the workweek for employees with varying work schedules; and excluding holidays from the 12 weeks of leave.