Assembly Bill 1443 amends the California Fair Employment and Housing Act ("FEHA") to extend its protections to unpaid interns. Employers are now prohibited from discrimination based on protected characteristics in the "selection, termination, training or other terms or treatment" of a person in "an unpaid internship, or another limited duration program to provide unpaid work experience." The new law also prohibits harassment of unpaid interns based on protected characteristics, and makes employers liable for sexual harassment of unpaid interns by non-employees if an employer knew or should have known of the conduct, but failed to promptly take appropriate corrective action.
In addition, employers may not take adverse actions against unpaid interns based on their religious beliefs and must provide reasonable accommodations for religious observance unless doing so would pose an undue hardship.
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