2025 Focuses on New Crime Victim Rights

While California law has long protected employees who may need time off to attend court for a variety of reasons, including time off for jury or witness duty, or when the employee is a victim of a crime, January 1, 2025 will expand employee rights further, based on Assembly Bill 2499.

There are several moving parts to this new bill and employers will need to ensure compliance with their handbook policies. CEA has a number of options to ensure your employee handbook is up to date – learn more here.

Key Changes of AB 2499:

• New definition of a crime victim: Defined as “an individual against whom a ‘qualifying act of violence’ has been committed. " A "qualifying act of violence" includes domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking, as well as causing bodily injury or death, exhibiting, drawing, brandishing or using a firearm or other dangerous weapon, or using or making threats of force to cause physical injury or death.
• Reasonable Accommodations (Family Members): Employers have an obligation to make reasonable accommodations for an employee’s safety at work when the employee is the victim or their family member is a victim of crime. The addition of “family member” is new for 2025 when it comes to accommodation requirements.
• Paid Sick Leave Expansion: Employees may use paid sick leave for crime victim leave, which will now include expanded reasons for employers who have 25 or more employees (see below).
• Brand new notice requirements: Employers must issue written notification of their rights in four instances: to all new employees, to all staff members on an annual basis, upon request, and whenever the employer learns that an employee or their family member has become a victim. (The State will issue a form to comply with this notice requirement by July 1, 2025. Employers are not obligated to provide notice until the State form is posted on the Civil Rights Department’s website.)
• Enforcement: While these laws were previously under the Labor Code, the requirements have been recast under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) with enforcement by the Civil Rights Department (CRD). Discharging, discriminating or retaliating against an employee who is a victim, or whose family member is a victim, will be unlawful employment practices under FEHA.

Other Significant Changes Impacting Employers of 25 or More Employees:

• Expanded reasons for which an employee may use leave, including leave when a family member is the victim. Some examples include: to attend certain court proceedings, to receive medical attention, psychological counseling, safety planning, relocation, caring for family members under certain circumstances, and more.
• Employers may limit the total amount of leave taken for these reasons to 12 weeks total and in some instances when the employee’s family member (as opposed to the employee) is the victim, to 10 or five days.

AB 2499 does not change other laws requiring time-off for employees to attend judicial proceedings, or other proceedings where a victim’s right is at issue, involving certain specified crimes (See Labor Code sections 230.2 and 230.5).

How Should you Prepare?

The law takes effect on January 1, 2025, so we’ll help you keep an eye out for the new posting. Once you have it, give the notice to all employees as soon as it is available. Additionally, this a good time to begin reviewing and revising your policies around leaves of absence and employee sick leave rights.

Call us or email us at 800.399.5331 or CEAinfo@employers.org for more information.