Some of the most common California Labor Law Questions:

When an employee quits how long before I must give them their final paycheck?

The answer is within 72 hours.  If you terminate the employee, you must have their check at the end of the business day that they are dismissed.

How many employees does a company have to employ to qualify for the new Anti-Smoking in the Workplace law that went into effect June of 2016?

The answer to that question is if you employ five or fewer employees you may have an area designated for smoking.  However, with that being said if you have over five employees there are no exemptions.  This even includes e-cigarettes

Penalties Range From $100.00 for your first violation up to $500.00 for your third.

How often must we conduct safety training topics?

This will depend on the industry that you are in.  For construction workers, safety training must be done every ten working days.

For accountants and other industries where the risk of injury is minimal, every ninety days will suffice.

Other industries such as the auto body and automotive repair you should be conducting safety training once every 30 days at least.

As a contractor do I have to keep my Safety Program in all of my company vehicles?

For this question, there is no clear cut answer, but in general, more and more enforcement officers are considering the company truck to be the office of the job site, and as that becomes more and more prominent the answer is becoming yes.

Should I be conducting safety training to all new hires?

Yes, you should, and not only upon the hiring of a new employee but also when new equipment is introduced into the workplace.  Safety Training should also be done after an accident has occurred, or when a workplace hazard has been found that could be severe enough to cause an injury to an employee in the workplace.

Do I have to conduct annual Anti-Harassment and Discrimination Training to all of my employees even if I have less than fifty employees?

Yes, even if you only have one employee you are required to at least cover the topic, explaining that this type of conduct will not be tolerated in the workplace.

Since we are a small company should we have an employee handbook?

The answer to this question is yes without question.  Even if you only have one employee you need to identify yourself as an At-Will Employer.  You should also have your vacation policy spelled out, and you should also explain how you are going to comply with the new California Paid Sick Leave Policy when your paydays are and so on.

CES Today can help make compliance easy, we are the Cal-OSHA Experts

Should you have any questions that you would like to have answered we would like to hear from you.  We have been helping employers as a Cal-OSHA and California Law Consultant since 1997.

We enjoy making compliance easy and even that that is much harder to do now than it was in 1997 we are still able to do it.