How CRE Firms Should Prepare for New #MeToo Employment Laws

The California Legislature has implemented several new employment laws tied to the #MeToo movement for 2019. This isn’t new for the State. New employment laws have emerged in recent years as a result of emerging trends. Past laws have included efforts to combat employee misclassification and wage theft, to protect immigrants in employment, to expand equal opportunity and to strengthen anti-discrimination laws. This year, new bills were inspired by the #MeToo movement. “Collectively, these bills look to break down the structural mechanisms that many believe enable the types of repeated sexual harassment that dominated headlines at times over the past year,” Dwayne P. McKenzie, a partner at Cox, Castle & Nicholson, tells GlobeSt.com. “For instance, to prevent harassment being concealed, bills were aimed at provisions that could be included in release and settlement agreements to prevent employees from speaking out. Other bills sought to protect victims of discrimination from defamation claims for reporting harassment or to strengthen female representation on corporate boards.  A common theme is the effort to better shine a light on harassment in the workplace.”

Some of the most significant changes include SB 1300, which make it illegal for employers to require employees to release claims under the Fair Employment and Housing Act or sign a nondisparagement agreement that prohibits the employee from disclosing sexual harassment in the workplace in exchange for a raise or as a condition of employment; AB 2770, which protects victims of sexual harassment from incurring defamation lawsuits by the alleged wrongdoer; and SB 820, which voids any provisions in settlement agreements that prevent individuals from disclosing facts regarding acts of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and workplace harassment.