EMPLOYMENT LAW BULLETIN
Vol. 04, No. 2
Courtesy of Eskridge Law, Attorneys at Law

The following is a very brief summary of more new laws which affect California employers:

Equal benefits for domestic partners: Two new California assembly bills have extended to domestic partners the rights and benefits provided to spouses. Assembly Bill 17 requires certain state contractors to provide the same employee benefits for registered domestic partners as they do for spouses. Generally, state agencies won't be able to have contracts for $100,000 or more in goods or services with a contractor which provides employee benefits to employees with spouses, but not to employees with domestic partners. This new law is effective January 1, 2004.

Another new law, entitled the Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act of 2003, grants domestic partners nearly all the rights and responsibilities afforded to spouses under California law. Although this law does not take effect until January 1, 2005, employers should gradually begin complying with the law to assure full compliance by the end of the year. For employers covered by the California Family Rights Act (employers with 50 or more employees), the new law will require granting an eligible employee up to 12 weeks of leave to care for a domestic partner, or child of a domestic partner, with a serious health condition.

In case you are wondering just who constitutes a "domestic partner," that is also defined by law. In order to be domestic partners, the following is required:

• The two people are members of the same sex or, if they are of the opposite sex, one or both of them are over age 62 and meet specified social security benefits eligibility criteria;
• They share a common residence;
• Neither of them is a member of another domestic partnership with someone else, or is currently married to someone else;
• They are not related by blood in a way that would prevent them from being married to each other in California;
• They are both at least 18 years old; and
• Both individuals are capable of consenting to the domestic partnership.

Universal Health Coverage: The new Health Insurance Act of 2003 requires many California employers to either provide health coverage to part- and full-time employees, or to pay a fee into a state health coverage fund. Fortunately, these new requirements will not be phased in until 2006 (for business with 200 or more employees) and 2007 (for businesses with 50 to 199 employees). This law will be more fully discussed at a later date.

Eskridge Law, Attorneys at Law, may be contacted by phone (310/792-7021), by fax (310/792-7022) or by e-mail (geskridge@ealaw.net). Please visit our web site at www.ealaw.net or www.employmentattorneys.net.

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