California has no love for employers this Valentine’s Day. The deadline for employers to give their California employees who signed unlawful noncompetes written notice that the agreements or provisions are “void” is February...more
Parties in California state court employment lawsuits and other actions may now deploy a potent new discovery tool. New demands for disclosure may be used in employment litigation and other lawsuits, with exceptions, filed in...more
Employers who sign employees up to noncompetition agreements or other restrictive covenants or seek to enforce the agreements — even when employees enter into the agreements outside California in a state where the...more
This post is part of Experience Matters, a series drawing on my 30+ years of defending employers in California employment litigation. The series highlights actions you can take to reduce risk – and worry less – as you manage...more
Hand-signed arbitration agreements will be easier for employers to enforce in light of a recent California Court of Appeal ruling. Declarations from former employees claiming they “do not recall” having signed their...more
Any one of three bills still advancing through the California Legislature’s 2022 session will have broad consequences for California employers if enacted. The Legislature has until August 31 to pass pending bills and send...more
Restaurants, bars and nightclubs in some of the most populous cities and counties in California must now verify that customers are fully vaccinated for COVID-19 before allowing them in. The requirements potentially place...more
11/12/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Customers ,
Discrimination ,
Documentation ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Exemptions ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Notice Requirements ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Security ,
Social Media ,
Vaccinations ,
Venue ,
Websites
The deadline for employers to file their first annual pay data report with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) – March 31 — is fast approaching. For employers scrambling to comply, a reprieve is...more
Newly posted FAQs bring employers welcome help in understanding what they need to do to satisfy Cal/OSHA’s Emergency Temporary COVID-19 Standards (ETS). These are key takeaways from the nearly 40 new FAQs posted on January 8,...more
The Emergency COVID-19 Prevention Regulation adopted by Cal/OSHA late this month will go into effect as early as Monday, November 30, 2020. When it becomes effective, the regulation will be the most sweeping and demanding...more
11/25/2020
/ Cal-OSHA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Occupational Exposure ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Workplace Safety
How employers will need to defend California employment lawsuits, Labor Commissioner actions and even arbitrations must evolve come the New Year due to changes in the law that become effective January 1, 2021. In this post, I...more
10/29/2020
/ Arbitration ,
Attorney's Fees ,
California ,
California Family Rights Act (CFRA) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Labor Commissioners ,
Retaliation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Whistleblowers
Employers in California are subject to a layer cake of requirements to report suspected and diagnosed cases of COVID-19 in their workforce. Federal, state and local agencies each impose obligations differing from one to the...more
California employers with 100 or more employees are now required to file with the state detailed annual reports setting out demographic, pay and position information on their employees. As for the purpose of requiring the...more
10/6/2020
/ California ,
DFEH ,
DLSE ,
EEO-1 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Governor Newsom ,
Pay Data ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Wage and Hour
Employees who suffer physical or mental injury due to a crime will be entitled to job-protected leave and other protections from their employers under legislation signed this week by Governor Gavin Newsom. Employers will bear...more
Newly signed legislation makes it easier and faster for employees to obtain workers compensation benefits for contracting COVID-19. The statutes, which went into effect on Governor Gavin Newsom’s signing of SB 1159 on...more
Anticipation mounts as we watch for California Governor Gavin Newsom’s action on bills of immediate importance to employers. The Governor has until September 30, 2020 to sign or veto the following bills of concern:
SB 1383...more
9/14/2020
/ California Family Rights Act (CFRA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
DFEH ,
DLSE ,
EEO-1 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Governor Newsom ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Layoffs ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unemployment Insurance ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workers' Compensation Claim
In meaningful numbers, employers across the U.S. who are rebuilding their workforces are being sued by employees not recalled from COVID furloughs and applicants not hired. Last week, I posted an Alert describing the risks to...more
More than three months into furloughs, layoffs, work-from-home models and soldiering through a blizzard of coronavirus-related legislation, sufficient data is now available to alert employers to the most common types of...more