PHRca
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PHRca
The PHRca exam validates expertise in California‑specific compensation, employment lifecycle, leave, benefits, safety, and compliance, enabling HR professionals to apply, analyze, and strategize within state regulations.
135
Minutes
125
Questions
$495
Exam Cost
Who Should Take This
HR managers, senior specialists, and consultants who have at least two years of experience managing California workforces should pursue the PHRca. They seek to deepen their knowledge of state labor law, enhance compliance strategies, and differentiate themselves in a competitive market.
What's Covered
1
All five functional areas of the HRCI PHRca exam: Compensation/Wage and Hour
2
, Employment Lifecycle and Employee Relations
3
, Leaves of Absence and Benefits
4
, Health, Safety and Workers' Compensation
5
, and Compliance and Risk Management
What's Included in AccelaStudy® AI
Adaptive Knowledge Graph
Practice Questions
Lesson Modules
Console Simulator Labs
Exam Tips & Strategy
20 Activity Formats
Course Outline
59 learning goals
1
Functional Area 1: Compensation/Wage and Hour
3 topics
Wage orders and worker classification
- Implement California wage order identification and application procedures to determine which of the seventeen Industrial Welfare Commission wage orders governs specific employee classifications and industries.
- Analyze worker classification scenarios under California's ABC test and Borello test to determine independent contractor versus employee status and associated compliance obligations.
- Apply California exempt classification criteria including the salary basis test, duties tests for executive, administrative, and professional exemptions, and inside sales exemption requirements.
- Design classification audit procedures to review exempt status determinations, identify misclassification risk, and implement corrective actions before regulatory enforcement actions occur.
- Analyze commissioned employee compensation requirements under California law including advances, draw against commissions, commission dispute resolution, and written commission plan obligations.
Pay practices and compliance
- Implement California overtime calculation procedures including daily and weekly overtime, double-time requirements, alternative workweek schedules, and makeup time provisions.
- Apply California meal and rest break requirements including timing, duration, waiver conditions, premium pay penalties, and documentation practices for non-exempt employees.
- Implement California pay stub requirements under Labor Code Section 226 including itemized wage statement content, pay frequency rules, final pay timing for voluntary and involuntary terminations.
- Analyze California minimum wage compliance scenarios including state versus local minimum wage requirements, scheduled increases, tip credit prohibitions, and piece-rate compensation adjustments.
- Design alternative workweek schedule programs including employee election procedures, schedule options, overtime implications, and revocation processes under California Industrial Welfare Commission orders.
Timekeeping and pay equity
- Implement California timekeeping procedures including rounding practices, reporting time pay, split shift premiums, travel time compensation, and on-call pay requirements.
- Implement pay transparency requirements under SB 1162 including pay scale disclosure in job postings, employee pay scale requests, pay data reporting, and equal pay compliance documentation.
- Analyze pay equity data under the California Equal Pay Act to identify disparities based on gender, race, and ethnicity and develop remediation plans for substantial similar work comparisons.
2
Functional Area 2: Employment Lifecycle and Employee Relations
3 topics
Recruiting and pre-employment practices
- Implement California pre-employment screening restrictions including Ban the Box (Fair Chance Act), salary history inquiry prohibitions, and criminal background check limitations under FCRA and state law.
- Apply California drug testing limitations including pre-employment, reasonable suspicion, and post-accident testing restrictions, and employer obligations regarding off-duty marijuana use protections.
- Analyze California hiring compliance scenarios involving protected category considerations, reasonable accommodation during the application process, and lawful versus unlawful pre-employment inquiries.
- Implement California employment agreement requirements including arbitration agreements, non-compete limitations, trade secret protections, and intellectual property assignment provisions.
Employment policies and harassment prevention
- Implement California-compliant employee handbooks including at-will disclaimers, mandatory policies (harassment prevention, discrimination, leave), and policy acknowledgment procedures.
- Implement SB 1343 harassment prevention training requirements including two-hour supervisor training, one-hour non-supervisor training, biennial scheduling, new hire timelines, and content mandates.
- Apply California workplace investigation requirements including complaint intake, promptness standards, thoroughness requirements, impartiality, remedial action, and anti-retaliation protections.
- Design performance management documentation practices that support potential disciplinary actions while complying with California wrongful termination, retaliation, and discrimination protections.
- Implement California-specific employee notification requirements including new hire pamphlets, sexual harassment information sheet, wage theft prevention notice, and rights and obligations documentation.
Termination and separation procedures
- Implement California termination procedures including final pay timing requirements, accrued vacation payout, COBRA notification, EDD notice obligations, and separation agreement considerations.
- Apply Cal-WARN Act requirements including 60-day advance notice for mass layoffs, relocations, and plant closures, along with determining covered establishments, affected employees, and exemption criteria.
- Analyze wrongful termination risk under California law including implied contract exceptions, public policy violations, breach of covenant of good faith, and whistleblower retaliation protections.
- Design separation and offboarding checklists that ensure compliance with all California-specific requirements including benefits continuation, reference policy, non-disparagement, and unemployment insurance protocols.
3
Functional Area 3: Leaves of Absence and Benefits
2 topics
California leave laws and entitlements
- Implement CFRA leave administration including eligibility determination, qualifying reasons, twelve-week entitlement calculation, intermittent leave tracking, and job restoration requirements.
- Apply Pregnancy Disability Leave provisions including four-month entitlement, transfer to less strenuous work, reasonable accommodation, and interaction with CFRA baby-bonding leave.
- Analyze concurrent leave scenarios involving CFRA, PDL, FMLA, ADA, and workers' compensation to determine maximum entitlements, employer obligations, and proper tracking of overlapping leave periods.
- Implement California paid sick leave administration including accrual methods, frontloading options, usage caps, carryover rules, notification requirements, and documentation standards.
- Implement FEHA reasonable accommodation leave procedures including interactive process documentation, extended leave as accommodation, fitness for duty certification, and undue hardship analysis.
Additional California leaves and benefit programs
- Apply California-specific leave types including kin care, crime victim leave, voting leave, bone marrow and organ donor leave, school activity leave, and volunteer firefighter/EMT leave.
- Implement California State Disability Insurance and Paid Family Leave benefit coordination including employer plan integration, benefit calculation, claims filing, and employee notification requirements.
- Design leave management policies that integrate all applicable California leave laws, ensure consistent administration, minimize compliance risk, and support employee wellbeing during absences.
- Analyze California Paid Family Leave interaction with employer-provided benefits including wage replacement coordination, benefit offset calculations, and employee communication obligations.
4
Functional Area 4: Health, Safety and Workers' Compensation
2 topics
Cal/OSHA compliance and safety programs
- Implement Cal/OSHA Injury and Illness Prevention Program requirements including hazard identification, employee training, inspection procedures, incident investigation, and documentation standards.
- Apply Cal/OSHA heat illness prevention standards including water provision, shade access, acclimatization procedures, emergency response protocols, and high-heat triggered additional protections.
- Implement SB 553 workplace violence prevention plan requirements including hazard assessment, plan development, training, incident logging, and response protocols for California employers.
- Analyze Cal/OSHA inspection and citation scenarios to determine employer response obligations, appeal procedures, abatement timelines, and penalty mitigation strategies.
- Implement Cal/OSHA COVID-19 and respiratory protection standards including exposure notification, testing requirements, exclusion pay, return-to-work criteria, and outbreak management protocols.
Workers' compensation management
- Implement California workers' compensation claims management including first report of injury, medical provider network selection, temporary disability benefits, and claims filing timelines.
- Apply return-to-work program procedures including modified duty assignments, interactive process requirements, reasonable accommodation under workers' compensation, and vocational rehabilitation coordination.
- Design workplace injury prevention and workers' compensation cost management strategies including safety training, ergonomic assessments, experience modification rate analysis, and fraud prevention.
- Analyze California workers' compensation fraud indicators including suspicious claim patterns, investigation triggers, employer reporting obligations, and penalties for fraudulent claims or denials.
5
Functional Area 5: Compliance and Risk Management
3 topics
FEHA and anti-discrimination compliance
- Implement FEHA compliance programs addressing all protected categories including race, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, national origin, military status, and reproductive health decisions.
- Apply FEHA reasonable accommodation procedures including interactive process requirements, good faith dialogue, documentation standards, and undue hardship analysis for disability and religious accommodations.
- Analyze DFEH/CRD complaint response procedures including position statement preparation, mediation participation, investigation cooperation, and administrative hearing preparation.
- Implement California reproductive health decision-making protections including employer obligations regarding contraception, fertility treatments, and pregnancy-related decisions under SB 523.
Privacy, data protection, and employee rights
- Implement CCPA/CPRA employee privacy compliance including privacy notices, data collection disclosures, employee data access requests, deletion rights, and data security obligations.
- Apply California social media privacy protections including restrictions on employer access to personal social media accounts, monitoring limitations, and off-duty conduct privacy provisions.
- Analyze California employee monitoring and surveillance legal requirements including workplace camera placement, electronic communication monitoring, GPS tracking, and biometric data collection limitations.
- Design employee personal device and bring-your-own-device policies that comply with California expense reimbursement requirements, privacy protections, and data security obligations.
Regulatory compliance and enforcement risk
- Analyze PAGA (Private Attorneys General Act) enforcement risk including representative action procedures, penalty calculations, cure provisions, and employer mitigation strategies.
- Apply California arbitration agreement requirements including procedural fairness, unconscionability analysis, class action waiver limitations, and employee opt-out provisions under current case law.
- Implement California pay data reporting requirements including annual submission to CRD, employee demographic data collection, pay band categorization, and report certification procedures.
- Design comprehensive California HR compliance audit programs that systematically assess wage-hour, leave, safety, discrimination, and privacy compliance across all organizational operations.
- Apply California whistleblower protection requirements including Labor Code Section 1102.5 anti-retaliation provisions, reporting channels, investigation obligations, and penalty exposure for violations.
- Analyze California local ordinance compliance requirements including city-specific minimum wage, paid sick leave, fair scheduling, and ban-the-box ordinances in major metropolitan areas.
- Implement California employee expense reimbursement compliance under Labor Code Section 2802 including necessary expenditure identification, reasonable reimbursement rates, and remote work expense obligations.
Scope
Included Topics
- All five functional areas of the HRCI PHRca exam: Compensation/Wage and Hour (21%), Employment Lifecycle and Employee Relations (26%), Leaves of Absence and Benefits (14%), Health, Safety and Workers' Compensation (10%), and Compliance and Risk Management (29%).
- California compensation and wage-hour law: wage orders, meal and rest break requirements, overtime calculations, reporting time pay, split shift premiums, pay stub requirements, final pay timing, exempt vs. non-exempt classification, and commissioned employee regulations.
- California employment lifecycle: recruiting and pre-employment practices, Ban the Box compliance, Fair Chance Act, employment agreements, at-will employment, harassment prevention training (SB 1343), termination procedures, Cal-WARN Act requirements, and mass layoff notification obligations.
- California leaves of absence: CFRA, PDL, paid sick leave, kin care, crime victim leave, voting leave, military leave, school activity leave, organ donor leave, leave interaction and concurrent leave tracking, and reasonable accommodation under FEHA.
- California health, safety, and workers' compensation: Cal/OSHA requirements, Injury and Illness Prevention Programs (IIPP), heat illness prevention, workplace violence prevention (SB 553), workers' compensation claims management, return-to-work programs, and agency interface.
- California compliance and risk management: FEHA protected categories, pay transparency (SB 1162), pay data reporting, privacy rights (CCPA/CPRA), social media privacy, background check restrictions, drug testing limitations, arbitration agreements, PAGA enforcement, and regulatory agency responses.
Not Covered
- Federal-only employment law topics that do not have California-specific nuances or supplements beyond what is covered by the PHR certification.
- International employment law, cross-border workforce management, and global HR practices not applicable to California operations.
- Other state-specific employment law variations outside of California jurisdiction.
- Advanced litigation strategy, class action defense, and legal counsel responsibilities beyond HR's compliance role.
- Enterprise-level HRIS architecture and advanced analytics beyond California compliance reporting requirements.
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