On October 8, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill (“SB”) 476. The law will go into effect on January 1, 2024.

Employees of retail food facilities are already required to obtain a food handler card and maintain that card for the duration of their employment. SB 476 requires employees to compensate the training and food handler examination time as “hours worked” for which the employer would pay. Employers must also reimburse the employee for all costs associated with obtaining a food handler card. Lastly, employers must relieve the employee of all other work duties while the employee is taking the food handler training course and exam. Employers may not require that job applicants have an existing food handler card as a condition of employment.

The California Health and Safety Code defines a “food facility” as a facility that “sells food for human consumption to the general public.” SB 476 does not apply to certified farmer’s markets, commissaries, grocery stores, licensed health car facilities, mobile support units, school cafeterias, restricted food service facilities, pharmacy retail stores, food facilities that already provide in-house food safety training, food facilities that have a collective bargaining agreement, confinement facilities such as jails or juvenile halls, and elderly nutrition programs.

Food facility employers are required to maintain records of employees possessing a valid food handler card and to provide them to the Health Department, if requested.