This weekend Governor Brown signed many laws that were authored and gained traction in response to the #MeToo movement:
New Restrictions On Confidentiality Of Sexual Harassment/Discrimination Settlements -
Senate Bill...more
10/2/2018
/ #MeToo ,
Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Employee Training ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Governor Brown ,
Harassment ,
Hostile Environment ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
New Legislation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Woman Board Members
Earlier this month, Governor Brown signed new legislation (SB 954), which requires lawyers to provide their clients with a printed disclosure describing the confidentiality restrictions applicable to mediation. This...more
On July 4th, U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez issued an order enjoining California from enforcing parts of the California Immigration Workers Protection Act (Assembly Bill 450), a new state law that restricted private...more
7/9/2018
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Records ,
Form I-9 ,
Governor Brown ,
Immigration Enforcement ,
New Legislation ,
Notice Requirements ,
State Labor Laws ,
Subpoenas
In the immortal words of Mao Zedong: “Let a hundred flowers blossom!”
Multiple cities and hamlets throughout California have enacted slightly differing and, of course, maddeningly confusing non-uniform minimum wage laws....more
The California Chamber of Commerce has just identified a new raft of recently introduced “job killer” bills that have been proposed in the California Legislature.
This year’s list of 27 proposed laws includes measures that...more
Newly Enacted California Statutes -
Statewide "Ban-the-Box" Legislation -
Known as "Ban-the-Box" legislation in reference to the box applicants are asked to check if they have any prior criminal convictions, the new...more
11/10/2017
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Ban the Box ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
FEHA ,
Governor Brown ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Job Applicants ,
Mental Health ,
New Legislation ,
Parental Leave ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Salary/Wage History ,
Sanctuary Cities ,
Sexual Harassment ,
State Labor Laws ,
Tip Credit ,
Wage and Hour ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Workers Compensation Act ,
Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board (WCAB)
On Saturday, October 14, 2017, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 1008 into law, which is set to take effect on January 1, 2018. Known as the “Ban the Box” legislation, in reference to the box applicants are...more
11/1/2017
/ Background Checks ,
Ban the Box ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
FEHA ,
Governor Brown ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
New Legislation ,
State Labor Laws
California Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law a statewide salary history inquiry law that will largely restrict employers in the state from seeking and relying upon salary history information from applicants during the...more
California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed Senate Bill 63 into law, expanding parental leave protections to those individuals who work for employers with at least 20 employees. Under the new law, which is set to take effect on...more
On Thursday, October 5th, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law nearly a dozen new immigration-related bills, including AB 450, which prohibits employers from cooperating with federal immigration authorities in the...more
We recently blogged about Governor Brown signing S.B. 1241, which is now codified as Section 925 of the California Labor Code. The law, which affects venue and choice of law provisions in agreements entered into as a...more
10/28/2016
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Choice-of-Law ,
Contract Terms ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Foreign Jurisdictions ,
Forum Selection ,
New Legislation ,
Preemption ,
Venue
We recently blogged about Governor Brown signing S.B. 1241, which is now codified as Section 925 of the California Labor Code. The law, which affects venue and choice of law provisions in agreements entered into as a...more
10/26/2016
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Choice-of-Law ,
Contract Terms ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Foreign Jurisdictions ,
Forum Selection ,
New Legislation ,
Venue
Around this time last year, Section 1197.5 of the California Labor Code was amended by S.B. 358 in order to “eliminate the gender wage gap in California.” Among other things, the amendment sought to increase wage transparency...more
10/4/2016
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender Equity ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
New Legislation ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pay Gap ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Wage and Hour
On the heels of North Carolina’s controversial legislation, which requires that people use the public restroom that corresponds to their biological gender rather than the gender with which they identify, California has gone...more
On September 24, 2016, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed A.B. 1687 – a measure aimed at preventing age discrimination against film, television, and other professionals in the entertainment industry whose ages could be viewed...more
9/30/2016
/ ADEA ,
Age Discrimination ,
Discrimination ,
Entertainment Industry ,
Film Industry ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Motion Picture Industry ,
Movies ,
New Legislation ,
Online Platforms ,
Targeted Employment Area ,
Television Programming
In the past, a California employer could freely inquire about and consider a job applicant’s history of criminal convictions in determining any condition of employment including hiring, promotion, or termination. Although...more
In recent years, some employers doing business in the Golden State have required their employees to sign arbitration and employment agreements that require the employee to sue or arbitrate in – or under the law of – another...more
The latest legislative session has just ended, and, true to form, the California Legislature has added more than a dozen new laws affecting employers doing business in the nation’s largest state. These statutes are in...more
10/21/2015
/ Accrual Method ,
Anti-Pay Secrecy ,
Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
California Family Rights Act (CFRA) ,
Change in Control ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Discrimination ,
E-Verify ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) ,
Enforcement ,
Equitable Relief ,
Fair Pay Act ,
Gender Equity ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Governor Brown ,
Governor Vetoes ,
Grocery Store Workers ,
Healthcare ,
Healthy Workplaces Healthy Families Act 2014 ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Joint Liability ,
Labor Commissioners ,
Labor Standards Enforcement ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
New Legislation ,
On-Duty Meal Period Waivers ,
Piece-Rate Pay ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
Protected Activity ,
Protected Class ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Retaliation ,
Sick Leave ,
Social Security Administration (SSA) ,
Substantially Similar ,
Unpaid Leave ,
Unpaid Wages ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Garnishment ,
Wage Statements ,
Whistleblowers
Newly Enacted California Statutes -
The Word "Alien" Is Stricken From The California Labor Code -
Section 1725 of the California Labor Code defines "alien" as "any person who is not a born or fully naturalized...more
9/8/2015
/ ADEA ,
Age Discrimination ,
Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Attorney's Fees ,
Background Checks ,
CAFA ,
Cheerleaders ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Commercial General Liability Policies ,
Commercial Truck Drivers ,
Cumis Counsel ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Discrimination ,
En Banc Review ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
First-to-File ,
Grocery Stores ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Independent Contractors ,
Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act (ICRAA) ,
Jurisdiction ,
Labor Code ,
Labor Commissioners ,
Misclassification ,
Motion for Summary Judgment ,
National Guard ,
New Legislation ,
Pretext ,
Qui Tam ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Removal ,
Rest and Meal Break ,
Retaliation ,
Title VII ,
Unfair Competition ,
Wage and Hour ,
Whistleblowers
Governor Brown signed Senate Bill 292 this week, amending the Fair Employment and Housing Act to allow an employee claiming sexual harassment to prevail without having to show that the allegedly harassing conduct was...more