Information for all employers in California:
California is on the verge of adding yet one more prohibited employment practice to the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA).
On September 9, 2024, the California Legislature presented Governor Gavin Newsom with Senate Bill (SB) No. 1100, legislation that would make it an unlawful employment practice for an employer “to include a statement in a job advertisement, posting, application, or other material that an applicant must have a driver’s license” unless the employer meets certain conditions.
Quick Hits
- If Governor Newsom signs SB 1100, FEHA will prohibit employers from requiring job applicants to have a driver’s license, with limited exceptions.
- California already makes it a violation for an employer or other entity to discriminate against individuals with driver’s licenses issued to undocumented workers.
SB 1100 would amend FEHA by adding Section 129454.8 to the California Government Code to prohibit an employer from including in “a job advertisement, posting, application, or other material” a statement that an applicant must have a driver’s license, unless the employer satisfies two conditions.
These two conditions are:
- the employer must reasonably expect driving to be one of the position’s job functions; and
- the employer must reasonably believe that satisfying the job function using alternative transportation “would not be comparable in travel time or cost to the employer.”
SB 1100 defines “alternative form of transportation” to include using a ride-hailing service, using a taxi, carpooling, bicycling, and walking.
The legislative history explains that a driver’s license is irrelevant to most jobs and that requiring a driver’s license disproportionally impacts “people with disabilities, low-income individuals, and those living in urban areas with access to public transportation who choose not to drive or own a vehicle.”
If the governor signs SB 1100 into law, it will join an existing California employment law addressing driver’s licenses.
In 2014, Assembly Bill (AB) No. 1660 amended FEHA to make it a violation for an employer or other entity to discriminate against individuals with driver’s licenses issued to undocumented workers. This law followed AB 60, enacted in 2013, which authorized the California Department of Motor Vehicles to issue driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants who provided satisfactory proof of their identities and California residency.
FEHA prohibits discrimination against those possessing this type of license as a form of “national origin” discrimination, and it prohibits an employer from requiring a person to present a driver’s license, “unless possessing a driver’s license is required by law or … otherwise permitted by law.” FEHA does not, however, “limit … an employer’s authority to require a person to possess a driver’s license.”
The governor has until September 30, 2024, to sign or veto SB 1100.
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MARK SMITH
Smith Policy Group
1001 K Street, 6th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 335-5072
mark@smithpolicygroup.com
smithpolicygroup.com