The executive order on artificial intelligence issued by the White House yesterday is the federal government’s most ambitious attempt to date to corral this burgeoning technology – and contains numerous items of interest for...more
10/31/2023
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Big Tech ,
Copyright ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Foreign Workers ,
Green Cards ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Immigration Reform ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Job Market ,
Manufacturers ,
OFCCP ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
U.S. Treasury ,
US State Departments
California employers know that the new year inevitably brings new workplace laws that are finalized at the end of the state’s legislative session in the fall. This year, state lawmakers considered over 2,700 bills – the most...more
10/16/2023
/ Appeals ,
Arbitration ,
Automatic Stay ,
California ,
Caregivers ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Brokers ,
Data Deletion ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Fast-Food Industry ,
Governor Newsom ,
Governor Vetoes ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Layoffs ,
Minimum Wage ,
Motion to Compel ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Notice Requirements ,
Paid Leave ,
Registration Requirement ,
Remote Working ,
Reproductive Healthcare Issues ,
Sick Leave ,
State Labor Laws ,
Strike ,
Unemployment Benefits ,
Unpaid Leave ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Violence ,
Workplace Violence Prevention Programs
California employers will want to sit down, grab a cup of coffee, and prepare themselves for the avalanche on new employment laws that may soon be coming their way. The state Legislature just completed its work for 2023 in a...more
9/18/2023
/ Caregivers ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Fast-Food Industry ,
Governor Newsom ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Layoffs ,
Minimum Wage ,
Notice Requirements ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Pending Legislation ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Return-to-Work Agreements ,
State Labor Laws ,
Strike ,
Unemployment Benefits ,
Unpaid Leave ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Violence
Federal workplace officials recently clarified the responsibilities that employers using artificial intelligence have when it comes to applicants and workers with vision impairments, further adjusting existing legal...more
The recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank highlights many of the concerns that employers might face should they find themselves in the midst of a liquidity crisis. Making payroll, arriving at decisions related to wage...more
3/14/2023
/ Business Operations ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Furloughs ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Involuntary Reduction in Force ,
Labor Relations ,
Layoffs ,
Liquidity ,
Notice Requirements ,
Unemployment Benefits ,
Wage and Hour
Pay transparency is one of the hottest trends impacting the workforce today, and staffing companies and PEOs need to keep up with new laws and evolving expectations to stay compliant and competitive in 2023 and beyond. Pay...more
California officials recently updated their Equal Pay Act FAQs to answer a handful of questions about the state’s new pay transparency requirement for job postings — which goes into effect on January 1. But California...more
Employers faced unprecedented challenges over the last few years when it comes to attracting and retaining skilled workers — and many turned to staffing firms to help fill critical roles. In turn, the Equal Employment...more
As we previewed previously, a number of hot-button legislative proposals made it to Governor Newsom’s desk this year – many of which would change the landscape for California employers. For the first time since the COVID-19...more
10/5/2022
/ Agricultural Workers ,
Bereavement Leave ,
California Family Rights Act (CFRA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Drug Testing ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Fast-Food Industry ,
Food Service Workers ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
New Legislation ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Pay Data ,
Rebuttable Presumptions ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Retaliation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workers' Compensation Claim
As a result of Governor Newsom’s signature on legislation Tuesday, California will soon join a growing list of state and local jurisdictions that require job postings to include pay scale information. With the enactment of...more
Eight months of legislative wrangling and dealmaking have come to an end as the California Legislature just wrapped up work for the year – and now employers across the Golden State turn their eyes to the governor’s office to...more
9/2/2022
/ Adverse Employment Action ,
Agricultural Sector ,
Agricultural Workers ,
Bereavement Leave ,
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ,
California Family Rights Act (CFRA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Drug Testing ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Fast-Food Industry ,
Food Service Workers ,
Governor Newsom ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Job Applicants ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Notice Requirements ,
Occupational Exposure ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Pay Data ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Retaliation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Supplemental Benefits ,
Unions ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
You may recall the Seinfeld episode where Elaine Benes consumes a $29,000 piece of cake from the 1937 wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. A birthday cake from an office party in Kentucky may have that pricey wedding...more
The last two years have been an interesting respite for California employers. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the legislature – just like other businesses – which resulted in abbreviated legislative schedules, fewer bills...more
2/24/2022
/ B2B Organizations ,
Bereavement Leave ,
Biometric Information ,
California ,
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Mandates ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Employment Policies ,
Fast-Food Industry ,
FEHA ,
Health and Safety ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Marijuana ,
Occupational Exposure ,
Pay Data ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Restaurant Industry ,
State Labor Laws ,
Vaccinations ,
Wage and Hour ,
Work Schedules
California Governor Gavin Newsom recently completed final action on bills that were passed by the state legislature in 2021, and employers are once again faced with a raft of new compliance obligations thanks to several new...more
10/12/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Policies ,
Governor Newsom ,
Governor Vetoes ,
Hiring & Firing ,
New Legislation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
It’s been said that from crisis comes opportunity. And given that the COVID-19 pandemic has handed us the greatest collective crisis in our lifetimes, it should stand to reason that we should now be in the perfect position to...more
5/3/2021
/ Business Operations ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Governance ,
Data Security ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Foreign Workers ,
Form I-9 ,
Gig Economy ,
Healthcare Workers ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Labor Relations ,
Legal Operations ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Remote Working ,
Staffing Agencies ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law on Friday a statewide right of recall for employees in certain industries who were laid off due to effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. SB 93, which enacts Labor Code Section...more
After returning from its hiatus on May 4, the California legislature has wasted no time in drafting a flurry of new bills which will affect employers in the aftermath of the state’s response to COVID-19. While the state...more
7/27/2020
/ Bereavement Leave ,
Burden of Proof ,
California Family Rights Act (CFRA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retention ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Executive Orders ,
Governor Newsom ,
Health and Safety ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Layoff Notices ,
Layoffs ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Local Ordinance ,
Misclassification ,
Notice Requirements ,
Paid Leave ,
Pay Data ,
Pending Legislation ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Sick Leave ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unpaid Leave ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Theft ,
WARN Act ,
Workers' Compensation Claim ,
Workplace Safety
Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti just signed two companion ordinances involving worker retention and right-of-recall that will go into effect on June 14, 2020. The below is intended to help employers determine if — and to what...more
After reviewing the 2,203 pieces of proposed legislation introduced in the California legislature by the February 21 deadline, it’s obvious that one issue will dominate debate in the 2020 session: the continued fallout from...more
3/2/2020
/ ABC Test ,
Dynamex ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Exemptions ,
Freelance Workers ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Misclassification ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Wednesday, January 8th, saw a state court conclude that California’s controversial new misclassification law doesn’t apply to truck drivers, the second time in the last few weeks that a judge has come down hard on AB-5 for...more
1/10/2020
/ ABC Test ,
Commercial Truck Drivers ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 (FAAAA) ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Preemption ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
First-year Governor Gavin Newsom signed some significant pieces of legislation in recent days that will impact employers across California – ranging from a ban on mandatory arbitration agreements, to a complete rewrite to the...more
10/15/2019
/ Amended Legislation ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Fees ,
Bias ,
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Delays ,
DFEH ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Governor Newsom ,
Hairstyle Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Lactation Accommodation ,
Mandatory Arbitration ,
Misclassification ,
New Legislation ,
Privacy Laws ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Statute of Limitations
It’s been a long legislative year. And this being Governor Newsom’s first term in office, many observers have been anxiously awaiting to see what approach he takes when it comes to labor and employment legislation. Now all of...more
9/23/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
Governor Newsom ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Regulations ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Misclassification ,
Pending Legislation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
It’s been tough to keep up with developments concerning the fallout from the Dynamex case and California’s new ABC test for determining employee/independent contractor status. The past few months have seen several recent...more
7/12/2019
/ ABC Test ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Carve Out Provisions ,
DLSE ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Misclassification ,
Opinion Letter ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Orders
February 22 was the last day to introduce new legislative proposals for the 2019 California legislative year. A whopping 2,576 bill were introduced before the deadline, making for an extremely busy legislative year ahead....more
2/27/2019
/ #MeToo ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Litigation ,
Governor Brown ,
Governor Vetoes ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Local Ordinance ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Marijuana ,
Medical Marijuana ,
Misclassification ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Paid Leave ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Sexual Harassment ,
Sick Leave ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
As we discussed recently, the November midterm elections have resulted in a divided Congress that is unable to pass significant employment legislation. This means we are likely to see the drive for legislative changes pursued...more
1/16/2019
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Local Ordinance ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pending Legislation ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour