On September 17, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 1159, (SB 1159) which modifies and extends the Governor’s Executive Order N-62-20 creating a disputable workers’ compensation presumption...more
9/23/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Disability Benefits ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Executive Orders ,
Governor Newsom ,
Labor Reform ,
Occupational Exposure ,
Rebuttable Presumptions ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Sick Employees ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Workers' Compensation Claim ,
Workplace Safety
On September 9, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 1867 (AB 1867), which requires private entities with 500 or more employees to provide up to 80 hours of COVID-19-related supplemental paid...more
9/17/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Rights ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Food Service Workers ,
Governor Newsom ,
Infectious Diseases ,
New Legislation ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Sick Leave ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
Introduction: Earlier this year, California’s new consumer privacy law (CCPA) went into effect, and strict state enforcement began on July 1. Since its enactment, the CCPA has undergone several amendments because the plain...more
Executive Summary -
This week, the California Supreme Court issued two decisions, Ward v. United Airlines, Inc., Case No. S248702, and Oman v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., Case No. S248726, that will significantly impact...more
On March 19, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a state-wide “stay at home” order requiring California residents to remain at home, with two exceptions: (1) to obtain food, prescriptions, and healthcare; and (2)...more
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which took effect earlier this year, has left many employers in the Golden State scrambling to comply with privacy regulations concerning the collection and use of personal data...more
2/18/2020
/ Accessibility Rules ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Collection ,
Data Management ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Information Governance ,
Notice Requirements ,
Opt-Outs ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Privacy Laws ,
Privacy Notice Rule ,
State and Local Government ,
State Attorneys General
On March 5, 2018, the California Supreme Court issued a ruling clarifying how employers must handle flat-sum bonuses (i.e., additional compensation that does not change depending on the number of hours worked by an employee)...more
3/12/2018
/ Bonuses ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Compensation & Benefits ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Incentive Compensation ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Over-Time ,
Payment Terms ,
Payroll Periods ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
California has passed a number of employment laws this year, including the expansion of baby bonding leave to small employers, prohibiting inquiries into an applicant’s salary history, and restricting the use of applicants’...more
10/18/2017
/ Ban the Box ,
Conditional Job Offers ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
New Legislation ,
Parental Leave ,
Salary/Wage History ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) recently enacted regulations that impose additional burdens on employers’ use of criminal background checks in employment decisions. The new regulations are...more
In a complete reversal of its earlier decision, a California federal judge held that employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) entered into in accordance with the provisions of the Railway Labor Act (RLA)...more
The City of Los Angeles recently enacted its own Ban-the-Box law, designed to prevent employers with at least 10 employees from inquiring into or requiring an applicant to disclose their criminal history until a conditional...more
In a decision that will likely be seen as a win for employees, a sharply divided California Supreme Court ruled that the question of whether a court or an arbitrator decides if an arbitration agreement permits class claims...more
The California Supreme Court's recent decision in Kilby v. CVS Pharmacy/Henderson v. JPMorgan Chase has clarified the state's standards concerning when employers must provide suitable seating to their employees. While the...more
California employers are now facing another hurdle in their efforts to comply with state's paid leave law, the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014, in light of a recent opinion letter from the state agency that...more
California's passage of the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 (otherwise known as California's paid sick leave law) had left open a number of questions regarding compliance with the law. As a result, the...more
7/21/2015
/ California Family Rights Act (CFRA) ,
Compliance ,
Employment Policies ,
Exempt-Employees ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Healthy Workplaces Healthy Families Act 2014 ,
Leave of Absence ,
Paid Leave ,
Sick Leave ,
Wage and Hour
In a case of first impression, the California Court of Appeals recently held that, unlike cases where only class allegations are asserted, California's "death knell" doctrine does not apply to cases where class certification...more
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently broadened California's already expansive interest in promoting employee mobility by voiding any contract provision imposing a meaningful obstacle to a California resident's ability...more
Airlines achieved a major victory on May 19, 2015, with an order from the Central District of California granting Southwest Airlines Co.'s motion to dismiss in McKinley v. Southwest Airlines Co., United States District Court,...more
A new California appellate court decision provides much needed guidance regarding the proper scope of discovery in representative actions brought under the California Private Attorneys' General Act of 2004 (PAGA), Cal. Lab....more
Recently, a number of large retail and manufacturing companies doing business in California may have been surprised to receive a letter from the California Attorney General asking them to demonstrate compliance with the...more
In a public webinar recently hosted by the California Department of Industrial Relations regarding California's new paid sick leave law, the state labor agency commented that requiring employees to submit documentation as a...more
Executive Summary: A new California Court of Appeal decision has invalidated a 22-year-old healthcare industry exception that had given the industry some flexibility with respect to how it provided its employees working...more
On January 29, 2015, a California appeals court published a modified version of an opinion examining, in part, an employer's obligation under the state's rest break requirements. Critically, the opinion concludes that the...more
On January 20, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court denied review of CLS Transportation Los Angeles, LLC v. Iskanian ("Iskanian"), a case which would have determined whether employees in California could continue to bring...more
1/22/2015
/ Arbitration ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Iskanian ,
Iskanian v CLS Transportation ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Trucking Industry
Last week marked the official start of the holiday season. As we're now racing towards the end of the year, and getting ready for parties, gifts, and, perhaps, (ugh!) holiday travel, employers also should be getting ready to...more