Bill Text: CA SB731 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Employment discrimination: unlawful practices: work from home: disability.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Vetoed) 2024-01-25 - Veto sustained. [SB731 Detail]

Download: California-2023-SB731-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Assembly  June 19, 2023

Amended  IN  Senate  April 20, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 731

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Introduced by Senator Ashby
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Kalra and Ortega)

February 17, 2023

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An act to add Section 12940.2 to the Government Code, relating to employment.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 731, as amended, Ashby. Employment discrimination: unlawful practices: work from home: disability.

Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), protects the right to seek, obtain, and hold employment without discrimination because of prescribed characteristics. FEHA makes various employment practices unlawful and empowers the Civil Rights Department to investigate and prosecute complaints alleging unlawful practices. FEHA makes it an unlawful practice for an employer or other entity to fail to make reasonable accommodation for the known physical or mental disability of an applicant or employee. FEHA further makes it an unlawful practice for an employer or other entity to fail to engage in a timely, good faith, interactive process with the employee or applicant to determine effective reasonable accommodations, if any, in response to a request for reasonable accommodation by an employee or applicant with a known physical or mental disability or known medical condition.

This bill would make it an unlawful employment practice for an employer employer, before requiring an employee who is working from home to return to work in person, to fail to provide an employee who is working from home pursuant to an agreement with, or policy of, the employer with at least 30 days’ advance notice before requiring that employee to return to work in person. at least 30 calendar days’ advance notice to the employee. The bill would require that notice to be written and sent by mail or email and include, at a minimum, prescribed text with information about the rights of an employee to reasonable accommodation for a disability.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

 Section 12940.2 is added to the Government Code, to read:

12940.2.

 (a) It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer employer, before requiring an employee who is working from home to return to work in person, to fail to provide an employee who is working from home pursuant to an agreement with, or policy of, the employer with at least 30 days’ advance notice before requiring that employee to return to work in person. at least 30 calendar days’ advance notice to the employee.

(b) The notice required pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be written and sent by mail or email and shall include, at a minimum, the following text:

“You have the right to ask your employer to allow you to continue working remotely as an accommodation if you have a disability. Your employer is required to engage in a timely, good faith, interactive process to determine if there are effective reasonable accommodations for your disability, including working remotely. If you are able to perform all of your essential job functions while working remotely, your employer must grant your request unless it would create an undue hardship for your employer, an alternative reasonable accommodation is available, or you do not meet the definition of disability under the law. You can learn more about your rights at https://calcivilrights.ca.gov/accommodation/.”