338 | 2025 Cal-Peculiarities ©2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP www.seyfarth.com employee may apply for and receive the benefit, and contact information for further information about the commuter benefit.104 Covered employers must provide commuter benefits information as part of the benefits package to all newly hired employees.105 Covered employers who fail to comply with the Bay Area Commuter Benefit Program requirements may be subject to a civil penalty under California’s air pollution control laws.106 1 SB 30, 2019 bill amending Fam. Code § 297. 2 Id. 3 Id. 4 Fam. Code § 297(b)(3). A person under age 18 who otherwise meets the requirements for a domestic partnership may also register upon obtaining a court order and parental consent. Fam. Code § 297.1. 5 Unemp. Ins. Code § 1256. 6 Lab. Code §§ 233, 245.5(c)(4). 7 See Koebke v. Bernardo Heights Country Club, 36 Cal. 4th 824 (2005). 8 Fam. Code § 297.5(a) (“Registered domestic partners shall have the same rights, protections, and benefits, and shall be subject to the same responsibilities, obligations, and duties under law, whether they derive from statutes, administrative regulations, court rules, government policies, common law, or any other provisions or sources of law, as are granted to and imposed upon spouses.”). 9 See https://ca.db101.org/ca/situations/workandbenefits/rights/program2c.htm (last visited Mar. 21, 2025). 10 Rev. & Tax. Code § 17021.7. 11 Ins. Code § 10121.7(f). 12 Id.; see also Ins. Code § 10112.5(a)(2)(B). 13 Health & Safety Code §§ 1374.58, 1367.30; Ins. Code §§ 10112.5 & 10121.7. The provisions requiring equal domestic partner coverage appear within the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, which makes a willful violation of the act a crime. 14 Id. 15 570 U.S. 744 (2013). 16 576 U.S. 644 (2015). 17 Pub. L. No. 117-228 (Dec. 13, 2022). 18 388 U.S. 1 (1967). 19 Health & Safety Code §§ 1374.73-1374.74; Ins. Code § 10144.51. 20 Id. 21 California Assembly Bill No. 796 (2016 Regular Session). 22 SB 805, 2023, amending Health & Safety Code § 1374.73, Ins. Code § 10144.51 and Welf. & Inst. Code § 4686.4. 23 Id. 24 California Assembly Bill No. 1977 (2023-2024 Regular Session), available at https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1977 (last visited Mar. 21, 2025). 25 Id. 26 Governor Newsom’s Assembly Bill 1977 Veto Message, available at https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/AB-1977-VetoMessage.pdf (last visited Mar. 21, 2025). 27 Ins. Code §§ 10123.865, 10123.866. 28 Id. 29 Id. 30 Gov’t Code § 12945(a)(2). Employers may recover from employees the premium paid to maintain their coverage during a leave to the extent that (1) employees fail to return to work after the pregnancy disability leave and (2) the failure to return from leave is for a reason other than either (a) taking leave under the California Family Rights Act or (b) the continuation, recurrence, or onset of a condition that entitles the employee to a pregnancy disability leave or other circumstances beyond the employee’s control. 31 Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, Pub. L. No. 116-260 (Dec. 27, 2020). 32 Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, Health & Safety Code §§ 1340 et seq.; AB 72 (Stats. 2016, Ch. 492), Health & Safety Code §§ 1371.30, 1371.31, 1371.9. 33 Id.
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