#MeToo

Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday night signed a suite of #MeToo-inspired bills that require corporate boards to add more women and that limit nondisclosure and nondisparagement agreements in sexual harassment and sexual discrimination settlements.

But the governor vetoed three related pieces of legislation, including the closely watched AB 3080, which would have prohibited mandatory arbitration as a condition of employment. Brown nixed similar legislation three years ago. Supporters of the latest bill, who said forced workplace arbitration silences victims while protecting harassers, failed to sway him.

“Since this bill plainly violates federal law,” Brown wrote of AB 3080, “I cannot sign this measure.”

Here's a look at some of the #MeToo workplace bills that are now law and some that were vetoed.

Here are some of the new laws Brown put his signature on …

➤➤ No block on testifying. AB 3109 will bar settlement provisions that prevent someone from testifying about criminal conduct or sexual harassment in court or a legislative proceeding. The author, Assemblyman Mark Stone, D-Scotts Valley, referenced the case of U.S. gymnast McKayla Maroney, who risked a $100.000 penalty for testifying in court against former team doctor Larry Nassar and potentially violating the terms of a settlement agreement with a national gymnastics governing body.

➤➤ No secret settlements. SB 820 will prohibit nondisclosure provisions in settlements involving sexual misconduct, unless the claimant wants confidentiality language. “SB 820 will finally lift the curtain of secrecy that has continued to protect these perpetrators by forcing their victims to remain silent,” the bill's author, Sen. Connie Leyva, D-Chino, said in a prepared statement.

➤➤ More women on corporate boards. By the end of 2019, SB 826 will require publicly held companies to have at least one woman on their board of directors. The first-in-the-nation law also mandates that the number of female directors must increase again in 2021, depending on the size of the board. “With numerous independent studies showing that corporations with women on their boards are more profitable, SB 826 is a giant step forward for women, our businesses and our economy,” said bill author Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara.

➤➤ Nondisparagement clauses outlawed. SB 1300 bars companies from requiring workers to agree to nondisparagement clauses as a term or employment or in exchange for a raise or bonus. The new law also addresses the “severe and pervasive” legal standard by declaring that a single incident of harassment creates a triable issue and that harassment exists when the activity changes the workplace environment to the point where it's more difficult for the victim to do his or her job.

➤➤ More workplace training. When it goes into effect in 2020, SB 1343 will increase the number of employers that must provide sexual harassment prevention training to their workers.

… But not every bill made it. Here are the governor's vetoes.

➤➤ Record-keeping provision struck down. AB 1867 would have required companies with 50 or more employees to retain records of sexual harassment complaints for five years after either the complainant or the alleged harasser leaves employment. In a veto message, Brown said the extended time requirement for holding records was “unwarranted.”

➤➤ Complaint deadlines were not extended. AB 1870 would have extended the time to file a workplace harassment complaint with the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing from one year to three years. “The current filing deadline—which has been in place since 1963—not only encourages prompt resolution while memories and evidence are fresh, but also ensures that unwelcome behavior is promptly reported and halted,” Brown wrote in his veto message.

➤➤ Ban on mandatory arbitration fails. Brown cited an opinion of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan from 2017 in explaining his position that states are not free to bar mandatory arbitration agreements at their outset. AB 3080's attempt to bar mandatory arbitration as a condition of employment “is impermissible,” Brown wrote. Kagan, writing last year in Kindred Nursing Centers Ltd. said the Federal Arbitration Act concerns both the entry into a contract and the enforcement of a contract.

➤➤ Retaliation. AB 3081 would have prohibited employers from firing or retaliating against a worker for having been sexually harassed. “Most of the provisions in this bill are contained in current law and are therefore unnecessary,” Brown wrote. “To the extent there are new provisions, they are confusing.”