California Apparel News

California lawmakers don’t make New Year’s resolutions, they make new laws.

This year, a bevy of new state laws affecting businesses went into effect Jan. 1. While none is specifically targeted at the garment industry, most have a broad-reaching effect on all businesses operating in the state.

“We got a break this year,” said Joe Rodriguez, executive director of the Garment Contractors Association of Southern California.

However, a new state law banning the sale or production of any product made for young children that contains more than one-tenth of 1 percent of phthalates could indirectly affect the garment industry.

The bill, AB1108, which was introduced by California Assemblywoman Fiona Ma and went into effect Jan. 1, applies mostly to toys and childcare products. But it can include feeding bibs or children’s sleepwear made with footed bottoms covered with phthalates. Phthalates, commercial products used to soften plastics, are believed to contain reproductive toxins.

The federal government is also getting involved in the phthalate ban. Starting Feb. 10, a similar ban is applicable under the federal Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. (See related story here.)

One bright spot for employers this year is that the state’s minimum wage did not increase on Jan. 1. It remains at $8 an hour. However, in San Francisco the minimum wage inched up from $9.36 to $9.79 an hour while the federal minimum wage will rise on July 24 from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour.

The year 2009 could be the year that unions get a boost. “The big thing for the garment industry this year is the Employee Free Choice Act, which will probably be passed by Congress,” said Laura Worsinger, an attorney in the employment-practices group at Dykema Gossett in downtown Los Angeles. The Free Choice Act would make it easier for workers to form unions by requiring employers to recognize a union if a majority of employees at a workplace sign cards saying they want to organize rather than holding a formal election. The bill passed the House of Representatives in 2007 with the help of U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis (Dshy;–Calif.), currently nominated to become President-elect Barack Obama’s secretary of labor. But the bill failed to pass the Senate even though then–U.S. Sen. Obama, representing Illinois, voted in favor of bringing the bill to the Senate floor. “Basically, it makes it easier to form unions,” Worsinger noted.

While everyone will be watching the congressional maneuvering on that act during this tough economic period, here is a list of this year’s new federal and state laws that are in effect: Family and Medical Leave Act

The most recent version of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act defines when military family members can take up to 12 weeks’ leave. Families with active military personnel may be eligible for leave to accommodate certain situations, including short-notice deployment, attendance of an official military event or activity, arranging or providing childcare, attending school or daycare meetings, handling financial and legal matters, and taking leave for rest and recuperation visits when the soldier is on leave. False statements

A new state law, passed as AB2075, is an attempt to make it harder for employers to make their employees work off the clock. The legislation makes it illegal to require an employee, in order to get paid, to sign a statement of the hours worked during the pay period if the employer knows that the hours listed on the statement are false. This adds to an existing law.Text messaging

We all know you can’t talk on your cell phone while driving unless you have a hands-free device. Now you can’t send a text message on your cell phone or any other wireless device while at the steering wheel. Employers should make sure their employees don’t break the rules while delivering merchandise or picking up that lunch-to-go. Temporary employees

This new law clarifies the salary-payment obligations of staffing and temporary-employment firms doing business in California. It amends various provisions of the California Labor Code dealing with final payment of wages.

The law provides that wages for employees of temporary-services employers shall be paid weekly or daily if an employee is assigned to a client on a day-to-day basis or to a client involved in a trade dispute. This does not apply to employees assigned to a client for more than 90 consecutive calendar days unless the employer pays the employee weekly. Disability accessNew provisions in the state disability access law are aimed at keeping down litigation in this matter. This should benefit employers and landlords.

The changes in the state law allow for damages in lawsuits only to plaintiffs who have personally encountered denial of access to a building or area. It prevents plaintiffs from profiting by filing lawsuits against establishments they don’t intend to use.Minimum pay for exempt computer professionalsThe state Labor Code was amended to allow computer professionals to be paid on a minimum monthly or yearly salary basis and still be considered exempt from overtime. Before this change, computer professionals had to earn a minimum hourly rate set by the government to be exempt from overtime.

For 2009, the minimum monthly salary exemption is $6,587.50, and the minimum annual salary exemption is $79,050.50. The hourly rate for 2009 is increased from $36 to $37.94 an hour.