In 2019, California workers gain on pay and working conditions.

For minimum-wage earners, port truckers, farm laborers, sexual harassment victims, nursing mothers, high-powered female executives and workers injured on the job, 2019 offers reason to celebrate.A score of new state laws took effect on Jan. 1, expanding the rights of many employees while placing fresh restrictions on businesses.For workers, “2018 was a stellar year” for protections passed into law, said Steve Smith, a spokesman for the California Labor Federation, the umbrella group for more than 1,200 unions and a powerful force in state politics. “California continues to be on the leading edge of delivering economic justice to working people.”The business community is markedly less exuberant.“We have some major new laws to contend with that will impact the costs for California businesses,” said Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, which represents senior executives at the state’s largest companies.The new statutes will spur litigation, he predicted. “We are in a climate where employers are getting sued on so many fronts. That is one of the biggest concerns and I don’t think it is going to change.”