California Employment News: Overview of the Fast Food Minimum Wage Increase AB122
#WorkforceWednesday: The Union-Friendly Biden NLRB, California's FAST Act, and Pay Transparency in California - Employment Law This Week®
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a flurry of new bills at the end of the legislative session, including numerous bills that will impact employers across various industries across the state. Some of the key changes...more
Another New Year means another flurry of new laws for California employers. Indeed, Governor Newsom had another busy October, signing over a dozen employee-friendly bills touching everything from cannabis use to workplace...more
Governor Newsom signed into law a plethora of bills that significantly expand the rights of employees in California, although notably vetoing a bill that would have prohibited caste discrimination. Most of the new laws take...more
The Legislature was busy again in 2023, and the Governor signed a number of employment-related bills. This blog post is not intended to discuss the details of every employment bill that was signed into law. Instead, below...more
California’s 2023 legislative session ended on October 14, 2023, with a slew of new bills affecting employers. Governor Gavin Newsom signed more than 30 employment-related bills. Highlights of the new laws affecting...more
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
Seyfarth Synopsis: Now that the Legislature’s September 14, 2023 deadline to pass bills to the Governor has come and gone, we are providing an overview of which employment bills are before the Governor for consideration,...more
What’s happening to the at-will employment doctrine? The at-will doctrine has been the bedrock of employment law in the United States, guaranteeing management the right to pick its team. Employment practitioners are...more
On May 28, 2019, the Maryland Governor permitted (without signature) the Noncompete and Conflict of Interest Clauses Act (the Act) to become law. ...more
Attorneys general in ten states and the District of Columbia have recently launched an investigation into the employment practices of eight fast-food franchises. The group sent a joint letter to the companies requesting...more
Regular readers know that a good part of my practice deals with the use of “post-employment restrictions” to prevent former employees from using, selling or distributing a company’s most valuable assets – its intellectual...more
The Jimmy John’s sandwich chain recently settled state law claims in Illinois relating to its former requirement that hourly restaurant employees sign non-competition agreements that prohibit them from working for a competing...more
This Thanksgiving, Trade Secrets Watch is serving a delicious tale about protecting trade secrets in a franchising relationship. In 1994, Quizno’s entered into a franchise agreement with Robert Kampendahl, an...more
Non-compete agreements have long been used by employers as an effective tool to protect their valuable trade secrets and confidential information. However, employers’ overuse of non-compete agreements and employers’ practice...more
Governor Bruce Rauner has signed into law the Illinois Freedom to Work Act, prohibiting private sector employers from requiring their “low-wage employees” to sign non-compete agreements. The Act takes effect on January 1,...more
On August 19, 2016, Governor Bruce Rauner officially signed into law the Illinois Freedom to Work Act (the “Act”), with an effective date of January 1, 2017. The Act, while short and to the point, will have a significant...more
As many TSW readers are aware, 2016 has been a big year for trade secret law, with both the United States and the European Union expanding trade secrets protections and increasing the uniformity of their laws. But as good as...more
In an initiative that is virtually without precedent in New York, in the past two months (June 15, June 22 and August 4) Attorney General Schneiderman announced agreements with three separate companies in three different...more
Jimmy John’s can’t seem to escape the limelight. Last year, the company made headlines when employees hit it with a putative class action lawsuit seeking to invalidate their non-compete agreements. The District Court...more
Last week, the Illinois Attorney General filed suit against Jimmy John’s, alleging that the company’s non-competes violate state law. These non-competes prohibit all employees, including sandwich makers, from working during...more
On Wednesday, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed suit against fast-food franchisor Jimmy John’s and several Jimmy John’s franchisees operating in Illinois claiming that Jimmy John’s and its franchises unlawfully...more
Coming Soon to an In-Box Near You: An EEOC Charge - Why it matters: Employers, take note: the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has initiated the rollout of its electronic complaint program, the first...more
Sandwich chain Jimmy John's has been in the news lately because of non-compete agreements that employees of its franchisees sign. This is not necessarily good news for Jimmy John's, but it does underscore some interesting...more
In This Issue: - The Next Hot Trend in Economic Development: Craft Beer - Class Action Attempt to Void Jimmy John’s Non-Competes Goes Stale - Use of Customer Survey Data Upheld in Hotel Franchise...more
Tremors were felt throughout the franchise community when a recent article in The Huffington Post reported that the Jimmy Johns sandwich franchise is under Congressional scrutiny for its franchisees’ practice of requiring...more