Passed in 2022 and effective January 1, 2024, Assembly Bill 2188 creates Government Code section 12954 to make it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a person in hiring, termination, or any term or condition of...more
11/17/2023
/ Cannabis Products ,
Drug Testing ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Marijuana ,
New Legislation ,
Recreational Use ,
State Labor Laws ,
THC
Effective January 1, 2023, Senate Bill 1126 expands California’s CalSavers Retirement Savings Program by requiring employers with at least one employee to register for CalSavers by December 31, 2025, if the employer does not...more
Effective January 1, 2023, under Assembly Bill 1949, which amends the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), California employers with at least five employees must provide up to five days of bereavement leave to an eligible...more
With the relaxation of some governmental COVID-19 measures, it may appear that employers need no longer be concerned with any of the requirements imposed in the last two years. On the contrary, the California Legislature has...more
In an effort to support the Me Too movement, California previously enacted Code of Civil Procedure section 1001 to prohibit any provision in a settlement agreement that prevents the disclosure of an act of sexual harassment,...more
Under Assembly Bill 1003, which becomes effective on January 1, 2022, the intentional theft of wages in an amount greater than $950 from any one employee, or $2,350 in the aggregate from 2 or more employees, by an employer in...more
Senate Bill 606, which becomes effective on January 1, 2022, strengthens Cal/OSHA’s enforcement powers by creating two new categories of Cal/OSHA violations: “enterprise-wide” and “egregious”. A finding of an enterprise-wide...more
Senate Bill 657, a new law which becomes effective on January 1, 2022, in recognition of the prevalence of remote workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, permits employers to email required employment postings to employees....more
On January 1, 2023, Senate Bill 62, the Garment Worker Protection Act, will become effective, making California the first state to ban piece rate pay for garment workers. SB 62 prohibits any “employee engaged in the...more
12/3/2021
/ Chamber of Commerce ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fashion Industry ,
Joint and Several Liability ,
Manufacturers ,
Manufacturing Employers ,
Minimum Wage ,
New Legislation ,
Piece-Rate Pay ,
Retailers ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Safety
On March 19, 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 95 providing a new form of COVID-19 related paid sick leave for many California workers. The law will become effective on March 29, 2021, and applies...more
3/24/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Governor Newsom ,
New Legislation ,
Notice Requirements ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
Quarantine ,
Retroactive Application ,
Sick Leave ,
State Labor Laws ,
Supplemental Benefits ,
Tax Credits ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Statements
As reported here, on March 19, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 95. This new law requires all California employers (including those with collective bargaining agreements) with 25 or more employees to...more
As promised, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2257 which effectively rewrites Assembly Bill 5, the flawed law which sought to codify and clarify the California Supreme Court’s ruling in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v....more
Governor Newsom has signed Senate Bill 1159, a law that effectively codifies and expands his earlier Executive Order N-62-20, which had expired on July 5, 2020. Effective immediately, this bill defines “injury” for an...more
Assembly Bill 5 became effective on January 1, 2020. The law purports to prevent the misclassification of employees as independent contractors by codifying the ABC test established by the California Supreme Court case of...more
Effective January 1, 2020, Assembly Bill 1554 requires that California employers notify employees who participate in a flexible spending account, including a dependent care flexible spending account, a health flexible...more
Effective January 1, 2020, Assembly Bill 51 will prohibit employers from requiring employees to waive forum or procedure rights under the Fair Employment and Housing Act or the Labor Code in favor of arbitration as a...more
On August 30, 2019, Governor Newsom signed into law AB 1804, which requires employers to immediately report any serious occupational illness, injury or death to the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, by...more
On September 18, 2019, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill 5, thereby establishing a law that purports to prevent the misclassification of employees as independent contractors and provide “basic rights and protections they...more
9/20/2019
/ ABC Test ,
Dynamex ,
Employee Definition ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Gig Economy ,
Governor Newsom ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Labor Code ,
Misclassification ,
New Legislation ,
Retroactive Application ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
On August 30, 2019, Governor Newsom signed into law SB 778, which delays by one year the new harassment training requirement imposed by last year’s SB 1343. As a result, employers with five or more employees or independent...more
On July 3, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 188, the Crown Act (Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair).
The text of the law includes an explanation for its purpose. In pertinent...more
So you think vaping is the key to reducing workplace stress? Think again. Senate Bill 5 expands no smoking prohibitions to include e-cigarettes (vaping) and expands the definition of “tobacco products” to include all forms...more
In a move which matches its counterparts in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, the City of Pasadena is set to increase its minimum wage for employers with 26 or more employees to $10.50 on July 1, 2016, while smaller employers...more
Not satisfied with California’s Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 which provided paid sick leave to California workers starting in July of 2015, Santa Monica and Los Angeles joined a growing number of cities...more
An increase in temperatures will not be the only increase employers will see this July: employers in the City of Los Angeles and in the City of Santa Monica are reminded that minimum wages will increase starting on July 1,...more
On May 11, 2016, President Obama signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 into law, culminating a three year, bipartisan effort to create a federal trade secret law that can be used by private parties in civil litigation....more
5/12/2016
/ Asset Seizure ,
Barack Obama ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Economic Espionage Act ,
Ex Parte ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Misappropriation ,
New Legislation ,
Private Right of Action ,
Trade Secrets ,
UTSA ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies