The new year will bring many changes to California’s employment laws in various areas, including hiring practices (such as a statewide “ban the box” law); leaves and benefits (including expansion of parental leave to small businesses); discrimination, harassment and retaliation; required notices; and wage and hour issues (including an increase in state and local minimum wage rates and liability of certain contractors for wages and benefits of subcontractors’ employees). We have outlined some of the more significant changes (note that these are summaries, not complete analyses of the referenced statutes). Most of these laws become effective on Jan. 1, 2018.