Here are the new state labor laws that may affect your workplace

Good morning. Here’s what you need to know to start your Monday.

• What to know about California’s new labor laws.
• A lack of wastewater testing is blinding the Central Valley to its bird flu problem.
• Is the end nearing for this iconic Bay Area theme park?
• And here’s today’s e-newspaper.

New year, new labor laws for Californians

After basking in 2023’s “hot labor summer,” which saw a high number of progressive bills passed and signed into law, labor unions and advocates noted a cooldown in 2024 as some ambitious efforts fizzled before the finish line.

Even so, a number of labor-friendly bills made it through last year, aimed at better protecting workers from anti-union intimidation, artificial intelligence and more. They took effect Jan. 1.

“Instead of breaking new ground, many of the changes represent expansions of existing protections, such as family leave and enforcement of workplace anti-discrimination laws,” my colleague Suhauna Hussain wrote over the weekend.

Here’s a quick guide to some of the key laws now on California’s books.

A striking Amazon worker talks to a delivery driver during a job action in August at a facility in South Gate.

(Zoë Cranfill / Los Angeles Times)

Senate Bill 399 prohibits employers from calling mandatory meetings designed for management “to communicate the employer’s opinion about religious or political matters,” including views on unions.

The new law is a check on what labor groups call “captive audience meetings,” which they say are meant to intimidate workers and chill efforts to form a union.

Under the new law, employees who refuse to attend such a meeting called by their employer must continue to be paid.

Senate Bill 988, dubbed the Freelance Worker Protection Act, aims to ensure independent contractors are paid in a timely manner. It requires a person or business that hires freelancers to provide written contracts for services if they are paying the worker more than $250.

Under the terms, a freelancer must be paid “on or before the date specified by the contract or, if the contract does not specify a date, no later than 30 days after” their work is done, according to the bill.

“The law gives freelancers greater ability to enforce their rights if rules are not complied with,” Suhauna explained. “For example, a freelancer could sue and be awarded $1,000 if the employer refused to provide a written contract, as well as damages up to twice the amount that remained unpaid when payment was due.”

Senate Bill 951 passed in 2022, but a boost in paid family-leave benefits from that law kicked in this year.

Under the law, workers making less than $63,000 a year are now eligible to receive 90% of their pay when taking leave. That’s up from 70% of pay that that tier of workers was eligible for previously.

Workers earning more than $63,000 annually will receive 70% of their pay under the law.

“The benefit increase … will make it significantly more affordable for workers to take time off for pregnancy, childbirth, recovery from illness or injury, or to care for seriously ill family members,” Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office wrote in a news release last week. “It will also help families bond with new children or support loved ones during military deployment abroad.”

Assembly Bill 2602 makes it illegal for companies to use artificial intelligence to replicate the voice or likeness of actors and other performers without permission. The law requires that workers be represented by their union (SAG-AFTRA) or legal counsel for deals that involve their AI-created likenesses.

The rise of rapid and realistic AI-generated imagery sparked a movement in creative fields to protect the human labor it takes to write, draw, act and more. Many workers and labor advocates fear studios will do whatever they can to cut costs, including replacing workers with generative AI software.

Last month, the Writers Guild of America demanded that studios take legal action to stop tech companies from using writers’ copyrighted work to train AI models. WGA accused Netflix, Warner Bros., Walt Disney Co., NBCUniversal and other major studios of allowing AI firms “to plunder entire libraries without permission or compensation.”

You can learn more about these and other now-in-effect labor-related laws in Suhauna’s latest story.

Today’s top stories

A colorized electron microscope image shows particles of avian influenza A virus, or bird flu, in red and yellow.

(CDC, NIAID)

Science, environment and health

• A lack of wastewater testing is blinding the Central Valley to its bird flu problem.
• L.A. and Ventura counties will see strong winds and a major risk of wildfires this week.

New techy cars, same ol’ worries

• “Is somebody playing a joke?” A Los Angeles man said that, as he was trying to get to the airport to come home, he was trapped in a circling Waymo vehicle.
• In other Waymo news, an L.A. man tried to drive off in one of the company’s autonomous cars. But the company says it’s prepared for bad actors.
• Your car is spying on you. That’s one takeaway from data that Tesla shared on the driver in the Las Vegas explosion.

Public safety

• Two people were killed and several more injured in a Pasadena crash resulting from a wrong-way driver.
• An Orange County firefighter died of cardiac arrest amid an early morning fire.
• A pregnant Santa Barbara teacher died while hiking in Greece.
• The body of a missing Texas man was found near Mt. Whitney, officials said.

What else is going on

• Socorro Herrera, the founder of tiny Los Feliz taco stand Yuca’s Hut, has died.
• Santa Cruz Wharf reopened after partially collapsing into the ocean during high surf.
• An orca who carried her dead calf’s body for weeks has lost another offspring.
• The baby spider monkey found in a Rolls-Royce during a traffic stop is in critical shape. Now come tests, treatment — and a name.
  

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Commentary and opinions

• Jackie Calmes: Don’t forget what happened four years ago on Jan. 6.
• Doyle McManus: Biden’s legacy, like Jimmy Carter’s, is complex — and it’s in Donald Trump’s hands now.
• Commentary: Taylor Swift, Moo Deng and more: Here’s what the stranded astronauts have missed.
• Guest opinion: California utilities have lofty climate goals. Too bad their customers are in the dark.
• Guest opinion: Recent strikes show the crisis in Americans’ working lives.

This morning’s must reads

(Jim Cooke/Los Angeles Times; photos via Getty Images)

Inside the federal government’s efforts to break up Google: The company’s dominance faces several challenges after a federal judge ruled the tech giant illegally maintained a monopoly in search.

Other must reads:

• Is the end nearing for an iconic Bay Area theme park?

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to [email protected].

For your downtime

(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)

Going out

• 🍎 Times food columnist Jenn Harris says her new year’s resolutions include these L.A. apple fritters.
• 🎞️ Catch a screening of Mike Judge’s prophetic sci-fi satire “Idiocracy.”
• 🎭 See “Death of a Salesman” this month at the Colony Theatre in Burbank.

Staying in

• 💿 Chiquis lets her artistry flourish on her new album, “Diamantes.”
• 🧑‍🍳 Here’s a recipe for Fountain Grains & Greens’ sauerkraut and beet-stem salad.
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.

A question for you: What’s something you’re looking forward to in 2025?

Going on a trip this year? Picking up a new hobby? Hoping to try out new recipes in the kitchen?

Email us at [email protected], and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.

And finally ... your photo of the day

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Today’s great photo is from Times staff photographer Robert Gauthier.

Ariana DeBose poses on the red carpet at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards, held Sunday night at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. You can explore more red carpet fashion here.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Ryan Fonseca, reporter
Amy Hubbard, deputy editor, Fast Break

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