California to Assume Adverse Actions Are Retaliation Unless Employers Prove Otherwise

Author: Robert S. Teachout, Brightmine Legal Editor

October 16, 2023

Under a recently signed law, California employers will be presumed to have unlawfully retaliated against an employee if they take certain adverse actions shortly after the employee engaged in activities protected under the state's labor code. The amendments also clarify the penalties for retaliation against whistleblowers.

Current law prohibits employers from discharging or threatening to discharge, demoting, suspending or otherwise subjecting an employee to adverse or discriminatory action because the employee has filed a claim alleging a labor violation with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. Current law also prohibits such retaliation against an employee for filing a claim alleging a violation of the state equal pay law.

S.B. 497, signed by Governor Newsom on October 8, creates a rebuttable presumption in favor of the employee's claim if an employer engages in any prohibited actions within 90 days of these protected activities.

The amendments also clarify that the $10,000 penalty for violating the state's whistleblower anti-retaliation provisions is to be assessed per employee for each violation and is to be paid to the employees who were retaliated against.

The law takes effect on January 1, 2024.