(October 1, 2020) In the final hours of yesterday’s deadline to act on legislation,  Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a California Chamber of Commerce job killer bill that would have imposed a “right to recall” mandate on certain industries in California.

Job Killer Stopped

The only remaining job killer bill awaiting the Governor’s decision, AB 3216 (Kalra; D-San Jose), would have imposed an onerous and stringent process for specific employers to return employees to the workforce, which would have delayed rehiring and subjected employers to litigation for any alleged mistakes.

The law would have required that an employee be returned by seniority to a position the employee formerly held or to a position for which the employee could be trained/qualified to perform. Forcing employers to essentially retrain employees for different positions from which they previously held, would impose significant costs to employers already struggling to recover from this pandemic. Failure to follow the prescriptive requirements of the bill, as usual could have resulted in a lawsuit under the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA).

The CalChamber commended Governor Newsom for his veto, stating, “We thank Governor Gavin Newsom for his veto of AB 3216 (Kalra), which would have delayed the rehire of thousands of employees and slowed the economic recovery of many employers who have been the hardest hit by this pandemic. We are grateful that the Governor chose not to further burden these industries at a time when they can least afford it.”