On October 7, 2021, Governor Newsom enacted SB 331 to put up additional restrictions on employers offering severance agreements and settling claims alleging harassment, discrimination or retaliation based on purported...more
All employers covered by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 have until August 23, 2021 to submit an EEO-1 Report of demographic workforce data to the EEOC for each of 2019 and 2020. ...more
7/28/2021
/ Data Collection ,
EEO-1 ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Equal Pay ,
Labor Regulations ,
Pay Data ,
Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Gap ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Statutory Deadlines ,
Wage and Hour
Colorado’s and Virginia’s emulation of California by recently enacting comprehensive privacy laws is an important reminder to California employers that the clock is ticking to comply with California’s new privacy regulations....more
Late Friday afternoon, July 16, 2021, the LA County Health Department published its much-ballyhooed Order returning a mask requirement to most indoor settings. The order requires masks for all persons, regardless of...more
7/19/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Local Ordinance ,
Masks ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Public Health ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Workplace Safety
Los Angeles County Health Department announced that it will issue an order on July 16 requiring masks indoors regardless of a person’s vaccination status to be effective on July 17, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. ...more
7/16/2021
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employer Responsibilities ,
Health and Safety ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Local Ordinance ,
Masks ,
Personal Protective Equipment ,
Public Health ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Workplace Safety
President Biden’s Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy includes a directive to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to “curtail the unfair use of non-compete clauses and other clauses or agreements...more
7/12/2021
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Biden Administration ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Contract ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Former Employee ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Popular ,
Restrictive Covenants
On May 28, 2021, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) updated its guidance as it relates to federal equal employment opportunity laws and COVID-19 vaccinations. ...more
6/2/2021
/ Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Employee Incentive Plans ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
GINA ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Reasonable Accommodation ,
Title VII ,
Vaccinations ,
Workplace Safety
Yesterday's new CDC guidance that fully vaccinated persons may stop wearing masks and distancing in most settings is a welcome announcement after over a year of the COVID crisis. However, California employers should note...more
A recent lawsuit had many employers on edge after an employee’s spouse contracted COVID and sued her husband’s employer claiming that the employer was liable for tort damages because it knew or should have known that its...more
On April 27, 2021, the CDC issued new guidance for fully vaccinated persons. Fully vaccinated means someone who is two weeks past their last dose of either Pfizer, Moderna or J&J’s Janssen vaccine....more
The California Court of Appeal, Brown v. Los Angeles Unified School District, recently ruled that that electromagnetic sensitivity (aka “being sick to Wi-Fi”) constituted a “physical disability” under Fair Employment and...more
On April 7, 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) created a new webpage to provide guidance related to an employer’s obligations to comply with the mandated COBRA premium assistance under The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021’s...more
On March 29, 2021, California’s newest COVID-19-related legislation requires all employers with 25 or more employees to provide California employees up to 80 hours of COVID-19 paid sick leave. ...more
On March 15, 2021, new regulations published under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) further define how businesses may communicate privacy options on the internet....more
3/24/2021
/ California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) ,
California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Information Governance ,
Opt-Outs ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
State and Local Government ,
State Attorneys General
As enforcement of non-compete agreements and non-solicitation provisions have become more challenging in California, trade secret protection becomes more important to protect your company’s assets. In addition, due to the...more
On February 25, 2021, the California Supreme Court overturned an appellate court’s conclusion that employers could follow precedent and round meal and rest periods when applying a neutral rounding technique. Donohue v. AMN...more
California’s Labor Commissioner issued a $125,913 fine against a McDonald’s franchisee for retaliating against its former employee who allegedly complained about COVID safety issues before being terminated. The Labor...more
2/24/2021
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fines ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Internal Reporting ,
Labor Code ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Lost Wages ,
McDonalds ,
Retaliation ,
Wage and Hour ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers ,
Workplace Safety
Recently, the Ninth Circuit affirmed a matter of first impression holding that an alleged misappropriation of a trade secret that occurred before the Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”) was enacted in 2016 may form the basis...more
As indicated recently, California’s Pay Data Reporting Act requires all private-sector employers with 100 or more employees, with at least one employee in California, to report pay and hours worked by employees by race,...more
2/17/2021
/ Data Collection ,
DFEH ,
EEO-1 ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Equal Pay ,
Gender-Based Pay Discrimination ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Regulations ,
Pay Data ,
Pay Discrimination ,
Pay Gap ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
State and Local Government ,
State Labor Laws ,
Wage and Hour