California lawmakers introduced numerous bills early in the 2025 legislative session that could affect California employment law in significant ways. Although it is too soon to predict which bills, if any, will advance, the...more
3/25/2025
/ Automated Decision Systems (ADS) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Rights ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Job Ads ,
Pay Transparency ,
Proposed Legislation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Surveillance ,
Training Requirements ,
Wage and Hour ,
Wage Theft
As more states implement paid family leave programs, employers increasingly are faced with questions about how these state programs interact with Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) regulations. A recent opinion letter...more
1/20/2025
/ Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Rights ,
Employment Policies ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Federal Labor Laws ,
New Guidance ,
Paid Family Leave Law ,
Paid Leave ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
New California employment laws are scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2025. These laws address a variety of issues, including the state minimum wage, discrimination protections, paid time off, and employers’ messages...more
12/11/2024
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Audits ,
Child Labor ,
Compliance ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
FEHA ,
Independent Contractors ,
Minimum Wage ,
Posting Requirements ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unruh Civil Rights Act ,
Wage and Hour
California’s Proposition 32 would have immediately raised the state minimum wage for employees with twenty-six or more employees to $17.00 per hour immediately and to $18.00 per hour on January 1, 2025. Proposition 32 also...more
On September 28, 2024, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill (SB) No. 988, the Freelance Worker Protection Act (FWPA). The FWPA provides minimum requirements for agreements between freelance workers and...more
California is on the verge of adding yet one more prohibited employment practice to the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA).
On September 9, 2024, the California Legislature presented Governor Gavin Newsom...more
On August 31, 2024, the California Legislature passed the California Worker Freedom from Employer Intimidation Act, Senate Bill (SB) No. 399. The bill heads to Governor Gavin Newsom, who has until September 30, 2024, to sign...more
9/5/2024
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Employee Rights ,
Employment Discrimination ,
First Amendment ,
Pending Legislation ,
Political Speech ,
Religious Beliefs ,
Special Meetings ,
State Labor Laws ,
Title VII ,
Union Organizers ,
Unions
The California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) recently published a revised employee wage theft notice, effective January 1, 2024, that reflects legislation enacted in California in October 2023 requiring notice of...more
The new California employment-related laws that came out of the 2023 legislative session address a number of issues that will affect many employers. Leave (paid family leave, sick leave, and reproductive loss leave),...more
Along with signing into law a variety of employment-related bills in the 2023–2024 legislative session, Governor Gavin Newsom also vetoed numerous bills that would have further affected California employers. Here is an...more
Governor Newsom recently signed into law numerous bills that will affect California employers come January 1, 2024. Here is a quick overview of some of the new law that are relevant for employers....more
11/7/2023
/ Accrued Benefits ,
Arbitration ,
Cannabis Products ,
Drug Testing ,
Governor Newsom ,
Marijuana ,
New Legislation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Notice Requirements ,
Off-Duty Employees ,
Paid Leave ,
Reproductive Healthcare Issues ,
Retaliation ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Violence
On October 8, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed Senate Bill (SB) No. 731. If enacted into law, SB 731 would have required employers to provide at least 30 calendar days’ advance written notice before requiring...more
On October 8, 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Senate Bill (SB) No. 497—also referred to as the Equal Pay and Anti-Retaliation Protection Act. SB 497 amends California Labor Code Sections 98.6, 1102.5, and 1197.5...more
On October 4, 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill (SB) No. 616 into law. SB 616 amends California’s paid sick leave law to expand mandatory paid sick leave from three days or twenty-four hours to five days or forty...more
On September 28, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) No. 1228 into law, repealing the FAST Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act (FAST Recovery Act) (AB 257) and replacing it with a...more
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill (SB) No. 428 on September 30, 2023. The new law expands California’s workplace violence restraining order law to protect against certain kinds of workplace harassment as...more
The California Legislature is poised to make it even more difficult for hospitality and business service providers to operate in California. Senate Bill (SB) No. 723 amends California Labor Code Section 2810.8, which provides...more
6/29/2023
/ Construction Industry ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employer ,
DLSE ,
Governor Newsom ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Pending Legislation ,
Proposed Amendments ,
Restaurant Industry ,
Right of Recall ,
State Labor Laws ,
Sunset Provisions
On September 29 and 30, 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom signed more than one hundred new pieces of legislation, several of which directly affect California employers. In addition to several California Division of...more
10/4/2022
/ Cal-OSHA ,
Call Centers ,
Contraceptive Coverage Mandate ,
Contraceptives ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Handbooks ,
FEHA ,
Governor Newsom ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Sick Leave ,
State Labor Laws ,
Unpaid Leave ,
WARN Act ,
Workplace Hazards
On February 7, 2022, the California legislature passed legislation reviving COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave (SPSL). The law creates new California Labor Code Section 248.6 and takes effect ten days after Governor Newsom...more
On October 7, 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill (SB) No. 331 into law. SB 331 is known as the “Silenced No More Act.” It amends California Code of Civil Procedure Section 1001 and the California Fair...more
On April 16, 2021, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill (SB) 93 into law. This new statute creates California Labor Code Section 2810.8 and requires that employers in certain industries make written job offers...more
4/20/2021
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employees ,
Covered Employer ,
DLSE ,
Employee Retention ,
Entertainment Venues ,
Governor Newsom ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Janitorial Services ,
Job Offers ,
Layoffs ,
New Legislation ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Rehiring Issues ,
State Labor Laws
Within days, California employers may have to provide employees with even more COVID-19–related paid leave. On March 18, 2021, the California Legislature passed Senate Bill 95, which creates new Labor Code Section 248.2 and...more
3/22/2021
/ Cal-OSHA ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Covered Employees ,
Covered Employer ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
First Responders ,
New Legislation ,
Paid Leave ,
Paid Time Off (PTO) ,
Sick Leave ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour
Beginning March 29, 2021, California employers with more than 25 employees nationally will have to pay their California employees with up to 80 hours of COVID-19–related paid leave. On March 19, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom...more
On September 28, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 2992, which amends California Labor Code Sections 230 and 230.1 and prohibits an employer from “discharging, or discriminating or retaliating against, an...more
On September 30, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 1512, which amends California Labor Code Section 226.7 by authorizing employers to require certain unionized private security officers “to remain on the...more